


Voltron: Legendary Defender Novelisation (Season 1)

by strange_nut_pirate



Series: Voltron: Legendary Defender Novelisation [1]
Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Other, and I'm staying to canon, but let's just see what s8 entails before I get too daring, even though I would sometimes love to stray from it, in case you weren't aware, this is a novelisation, which means it's in a novel format
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-06-26 22:04:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 49,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15672171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strange_nut_pirate/pseuds/strange_nut_pirate
Summary: Five earthlings have been chosen to serve as the next paladins of Voltron, a powerful mega-weapon capable of defeating the Galra, an evil alien civilisation plotting to enslave the whole universe. Watch as our five protagonists experience things any normal human should not be, try and fail completely at getting along with one another, go on missions far beyond their expertise, meet Altean princess, Allura and her friend, Coran, fight off personal issues behind the scenes and battle battles that could determine whether they live or die. Are these five ready to take on the role of being the 'defenders of the universe'?





	1. S1E1: "The Rise of Voltron" Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being abducted by a sinister, alien warship was the last thing Shiro had expected on his mission to Kerberos. Meanwhile, Pidge, Hunk and Lance are having a few 'teamwork' problems at their academy, The Garrison. Keith is sifting through clues that definitely seem bigger than him. When Shiro escapes the aliens and returns to Earth one year later, the scene seems to bring the five together, to discover something that will change their lives forever.

Across the galaxy. They were across the galaxy. And it was everything at once.

It didn't matter that Shiro should've been used to it. That he was such a gifted exploration pilot. That everyone should of expected Shiro to be with Samuel and Matt Holt. In fact, this was still new for him. No human has ever been as far he, Matthew and Sam, and the thought alone could rile up an experienced pilot. 

He had risked everything for this mission. Many told him not to go, but no one could've stopped him. As soon as Shiro had heard of the Kerberos Mission, he knew he was going to go, there was no questioning it. And, this was very worth it. 

Kerberos itself was beautiful, the icy calmness and intricacy of Pluto’s moon made everything feel so surreal. The mission was exhilarating.

“Easy son. This ice is delicate,” Samuel Holt warned his son as Matt collected their sample of the moon. Matt looked concentrated as he pulled (more cautiously) the ice from the tube.

“Amazing,” he said, smiling with wonder. “Isn't this amazing, Shiro?”

“You guys get a little more excited about ice samples then I do,” he replied amusedly. 

“This is history in the making,” Sam said, equal wonder as his son sparkling in his eyes. “Not only have we travelled farther than any human ever has, but this ice could hold microscopic clues to the existence of life outside Earth.” 

“Think of it dad,” Matt stated. “We could use those clues to become the first people to meet aliens.”

“My life’s work would be complete.”

Not soon after, a loud rumbling shook the surface of Kerberos. The Holt boys glanced at each other, confused, as Shiro looked around to try and find the source. He did not like that one bit.

“What is that? Seismic activity?” Sam asked.

“We should get back to the ship,” Shiro assured.

But as soon as they turned around, the boys were met by a massive battleship emerging from the space beyond. It was nothing like they've ever seen before. It didn't look like anything man-made. For starters, it was huge. It looked at least ten times bigger than any ship back at the Garrison, with the architectural design of a civilisation far more advanced. It was made of a dark metallic material, and powered by some sort of purple energy. The battle ship seemed to give a powerful presence, powerful meaning ‘we have the ability to hurt you and we can and will do so if necessary’. It wasn't reassuring to say the least.

“What? What is that?” Sam asked, in utter shock (and a slight tint of fascination). “It can't be…”

“Run!” Shiro ordered, not even daring to take any chances whatsoever. He grabbed the boys, and it seemed to shake them out of their state. “Come on, run!”

But they were no match for the ship. It opened a beam, which sucked them off the surface in no time. The last thing Shiro remembered before he blacked out was his feet lifting from the icy, foreign moon, and Matt letting out a distressed scream next to him.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Where was he? How did he get here? Who was he? Why did he feel so nauseous?

“Emperor Zarkon,” a voice spoke.

Emperor? Zarkon? Maybe Shiro should open his eyes and see what's going on…

“We were scouting System X-9-Y as ordered when we found these primitive scientists.”

As soon as he did, he wished he didn't, because the memories came flooding back, and the sight before him wasn't much pleasing.

“I don't think they know anything useful,” the man in the full armour suit stated.

Why was his skin purple? And why was he surrounded by such peculiar tech? What was he talking about? And why was Shiro on his knees, with his hands tied around his back?

Wait. Oh, they're aliens.

That was probably not very good.

“Take them back to the main fleet for interrogation,” said a rougher, much deeper voice.

Definitely not good.

Shiro turned to look next to him, and spotted Matt and Sam, still unconscious and in the same position as he was in. On their knees, arms tied around their backs, with a guard in purple tinted armour and unfamiliar guns in their hands holding them hostage.

“The druids will find out what they know.”

Shiro couldn't take much more of this. He had to do something, or who knows what they might do? He had yet to find out their intentions, so he thought maybe reassuring them they were innocent might be a suitable course of action.

“Please!” He exclaimed, as the alien turned towards him (he looked hideous with his spine-chilling yellow eyes, his darker purple plates from his forehead downwards, and large, pointy ears. The scowl didn't make him look any friendlier). “We come from a peaceful planet. We mean you no harm. We're unarmed.”

The guard behind him took it as their right to hit Shiro in the back of his head with their gun, and Shiro felt the ear-splitting pain again before he disappeared into unconsciousness.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

He woke up with a throbbing in his head. He was getting dragged down a dim and alien hallway, each holding cells of other foreign creatures Shiro couldn't quite see on one side, and windows on the other. He could see one of the alien guards pushing Matt forward too. Shiro took to note that these creatures were much larger than humans.

All around him, other aliens species whispered in hushed tones.

“Look, they brought another one.”

“Who is it?”

 

“Over there. It's another one.”

“Huh?” Shiro murmured, looking out the windows. 

There, was thousands and thousands of cells, each one occupied by someone or something. It was truly quite a dreadful sight that Shiro couldn't help but let out a horrified gasp and stare at the awful sight before him.

It sunk in that these aliens were not friendly. That they wanted something from them. That they were powerful and vile and lethal in their actions, and maybe now Shiro should of listened to everyone at home. To Admiral Sanda, to little Keith, to Adam. 

Because something told him he won't be seeing earth in a while.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

One Year Later…

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin to descend Kerberos for rescue mission.”

The plane lurched forward suddenly as they began to come down upon the frosty moon. The boy behind the pilot groaned.

“Lance, can you keep this thing straight?” He begged.

The pilot, Lance, shrugged in response. 

“Relax, Hunk. I'm just getting a feel for the stick. I mean, it's not like I did this!” 

He proceeded to drive the plane in a twisted dive. Hunk groaned louder with nausea in response.

“Or this!” 

Lance then jerked the plane to the right and Hunk knew he was gonna be sick. He thought he had at least some more dignity to warn Lance about his next action.

“Okay,” he forced out, his voice a bit distant, “unless you want to wipe beef stroganoff out of all the nooks and crannies of this thing, you'd better knock it off, man!”

A blue radar popped up on the third occupant’s seat. He turned around.

“We've picked up a distress beacon!” He exclaimed.

“Alright, look alive, team!” Lance ordered. “Pidge, track coordinates.”

Pidge turned back around, focused his gaze on the screen in front of him and got back to work. “Copy.”

The ship lurched forward again. 

“Knock it off, Lance! Please!” Hunk pleaded, sitting upright in his seat and concentrating every ounce of his being in not throwing up.

“Oh this one’s on you, buddy. We've got a hydraulic stabiliser out,” Lance said smugly (and yet a touch bit accusingly), knowing full well that Hunk was indeed the engineer, and knowing he would have to fix it.

Hunk gulped down his fear (and maybe something else) and brought the pad towards him. 

 

“Oh no,” he shuddered.

“Oh no. Fix now, puke later,” Lance ordered.

“I've lost contact. The shaking is interfering with our senses,” Pidge informed his team.

Lance turned back around and fixed a glare at Hunk. “Come on, Hunk.”

“It's not responding,” he moaned, getting out of his seat and crawling to wear the main gearbox was located.

Lance turned towards the terrain set out before him and an idea immediately struck him.

“Never mind, fellas. Thar she blows. Preparing for approach on visual.”

“I don't think that's advisable with our current mechanical and gastrointestinal issues,” Pidge counselled, stealing a disgusted glance at Hunk who was hunched over the gearbox. 

“Agreed,” he said, on the verge of vomiting.

“Stop worrying,” Lance said, waving away his other teammate’s doubts and patting the ship soothingly. “This baby can take it, can't you, champ?”

As if on cue, the ship gave off a unattractive shudder that obviously answered Lance’s question.

“Uh, see? She was nodding. She was nodding,” he reassured them as Pidge glared. “Pidge, hail down to them and let them know that their ride is here.”

Pidge undid his seatbelt and reached up to grab the intercom.

“Attention, lunar vessel argh—!” He yelped as the plane went under turbulence again and sent Pidge flying. He landed quite roughly and Lance looked over at Pidge with a scowl.

“What are you doing? Buckle your belt. And, Hunk, stop that shaking!”

“I'm try— Oh no.”

And with that, the Samoan teen reeled over and puked everything right into the gearbox. 

“Attention lunar vessel,” Pidge tried again, “this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Coming in for landing and extraction, against crew recommendations,” he broadcasted, shooting one more glare at Lance.

“No time for you mutinous comments now, Pidge. They're going under and we're going in,” he said thrusting the controls and sending the plane forwards.

“Look out for that overhang!” Pidge warned as they approached an arc of solid ice with concerning speed.

“No worries. My first year of flight school, know what the called me? They called me ‘The Tailor’ because of how I thread the needle,” Lance said, smirking so hard Pidge was worried his face might combust.

He turned back around and propelled the plane forward with a triumphant grin on his face, as Pidge and Hunk shrieked in the background.

“Come around, come around! Come on, come on!” Lance egged. 

They didn't make it. The plane jolted violently and the beeping got louder and more frantic.

“We lost a wing!” Hunk exclaimed. 

“Oh man,” Lance groaned as their ship propelled headfirst into the surface with a loud crash.

And then, darkness.

“Simulation failed,” a computer-like voice stated as the words appeared on the screen in front of them.

“Nice work, Tailor,” Pidge said moodily as the back doors to the ship opened and light filtered in.

A man with the Garrison uniform, a commander’s hat, a purposeful stance and one opened, accusing eye leaned in.

“Roll out, donkeys!” He half-yelled, scowling.

They followed his orders obediently. They stood in front of Commander Iverson and the rest of their cadets, in what was known to be the Garrison’s training simulator, something each student will be tested on. Pidge, Lance and Hunk knew they already had failed, and awaited the embarrassment to go with it.

“Let’s see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students. Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?” The Commander yelled.

A student put his hand up, and said; “They puked in the main gearbox.”

“Yes,” Commander Iverson agreed, turning sharply towards Hunk. “As everyone knows, vomit is not an approved lubricant for engine systems. What else?”

Hunk never wanted to throw up! That was beyond his control, and he was slowly getting better at keeping it down. He didn't want to vomit every time he was in a ship, trust him! But he was never a born adventurer. He was simply never built or brought up to go on crazy escapades or witness life-changing experiences. He was a coward and a bother. He was pretty content with the simple pleasures of life, thank you very much.

“The comm spec removed his safety harness,” another cadet mentioned.

“The pilot crashed!” Another girl exclaimed.

“Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they're arguing with each other. Heck, if you're gonna be this bad individually, you better at least be able to work as a team!” Commander Iverson shouted at the three, embarrassed and ashamed boys. “Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astroexplorers, but these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of those men on the Kerberos Mission.”

Pidge seemed to snap at the mention of the Kerberos Mission.

“That's not true, sir!” he protested, his hands in small fists and his hazel eyes full of shame, regret and rage.

“What did you say?!” Commander Iverson snapped.

Lance felt the need to save his friend from the utter wrath of their Commander, so he slapped a hand over his small friend’s mouth as Pidge tried to let out some very offensive slurs. Honestly, he'd always known the Kerberos Mission was a touchy subject for Pidge, though he never knew why. Every time Lance brought it up, Pidge would become guarded or defensive easily, or would make up a lame excuse to leave the conversation. Lance and Hunk had both learned to leave the topic alone.

“Sorry, sir. I think he may of hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken,” he said, flashing a hopeful grin.

Commander glared at the skinny, Cuban, careless teenager before him, and walked up to him, deciding to slap some sense into his head.

“I hope I don't have to remind you that the only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out. Don't follow in his footsteps.”

Lance flinched, letting the insult seep in. 

Commander Iverson could of drilled him about how ‘being the pilot of the mission did not automatically make him the leader’, that he had to listen to his other teammates, that he had to learn to take advice from his comrades because they were up there with him for a reason, but he looked so much like a kicked puppy then that even Iverson couldn't help but pity him. Lance held his gaze with pained eyes, and Iverson saw a vulnerable young boy, just trying to prove his worth, just to be shot down in a blink of an eye. There was a lot of things this young cadet will have to learn, but Iverson thought what he said was vicious enough to Lance’s delicate ego today.

Commander Iverson turned to the rest of the cadets.

“Next!”

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

It was dark, well, darkening. The Garrison’s cadets were all preparing to call it a day, but not Hunk and Lance. Oh no, Lance had something very different in mind.

“Lights out in five! Everyone back to their dorms, now,” The commander told the remaining cadets as Hunk and Lance peered around the corner.

“We shouldn't be doing this,” Hunk mentioned.

“You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team. We're gonna grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls—”

“Okay, I'm just saying this here, right now, on the record; this is a bad idea,” Hunk interrupted, as the lights went out.

Lance ignored him and stealthily made his way through the dark, empty hallways. When he rounded a corner, and saw a large window where there appeared to be a meeting with the upper staff, Lance shrunk to his knees and started to crawl under the window to avoid being seen. Hunk reluctantly followed.

“You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don't have much sense of adventure,” Lance stated bluntly.

“All of your little adventures end up with me in the principal’s office,” Hunk shot back. “Oh man.”

They heard footsteps around the corner. Lance turned and shot Hunk a mischievous grin, and Hunk did not want to know what idea he was having. Lance pointed to two recycling bins, one blue and the other yellow. Hunk shook his head hastily, but Lance was already squeezing himself inside of it. 

In Hunk’s opinion, this adventure was so not worth it.

“L-5 north, all clear,” the man on patrol spoke through his radio, as he rounded the corner and continued on.

Lance immediately shoved the lid if the bin off, jumped out and landed on his feet without breaking a sweat, and quite gracefully. Hunk, not so much. He was red in the face, trying to squeeze himself out of the small confinement and in doing so he lost balance and fell face-first onto the floor. This was really not his day.

“I'm fine,” Hunk assured.

Suddenly, the door to one of the dorm rooms opened up. Lance let out a small and surprised gasp and grabbed Hunk (Hunk let out a little yelp) to hide themselves around the corner.

Out stepped Pidge, equipped with a backpack and a determined look on his face. Without even looking both directions, he set out down the corridor with an unknown goal and an unknown destination.

“Where is he going?” Lance said, an eyebrow raised and a suspicious look on his face.

Pidge had been acting weird today. Lance had been mentally taking note of how he unfastened his seatbelt during the simulator, it was a silly mistake. Pidge didn't make silly mistakes. Sure, he was human and people slip up every now and then, but he acting strange and indifferent the whole day. Especially after Commander Iverson mentioned the Kerberos Mission, Pidge hardly even spoke to Hunk or Lance. He bid them goodnight and quickly snaked away to his dorm. Hunk didn't suspect anything, and was entirely oblivious to Pidge’s behaviour. Lance, not so much.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Pidge was sitting and listening. Listening for anything. Listening to everything. It was a strange occurrence, truly, and he didn't know what to think about it all. Was he happy? Was he nostalgic? Was he disappointed? Was he hopeful?

He decided he'll choose the last one.

Sitting there, on the roof of the Garrison, out in the night with computers, radars and gadgets of very kind he had scattered around him, it was a risk. But he would give anything to hear news of what happened that day. So he listened to the strange signals, and tried to pick up all the information he could use.

Suddenly, his headphones were lifted and a loud, pompous voice asked in his ear; “You came up here to rock out?”

Pidge got such a fright he jumped right back from the voice with a yelp. He turned and spotted a suspicious and nosy looking blue-eyed boy with brown mousy hair and a tan complexion and a scared, large male on his hands and knees, large brown eyes staring up at Pidge with a mixture of fear and confusion, his large eyebrows furrowed.

“Oh, Lance, Hunk,” Pidge blinked innocently. “No, um, just looking at the stars.”

“Where'd you get this stuff? Doesn't look like Garrison tech,” Lance stated suspiciously.

“I built it,” Pidge he said, quite proudly at that.

Hunk snaked up behind him.

“You built all this?” He asked, reaching out a hand to touch the computer in front of him.

Pidge slapped his hand away quite harshly (with a small “stop it”), leaving Hunk massaging it, pouting and shrinking back away from Pidge’s range.

“With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system,” Pidge continued to inform Lance.

“That right? All the way to Kerberos?” Lance asked, still suspicious and not willing to give Pidge a chance of escaping the conversation.

Pidge shot Lance a look of shock, and then started pouting. There's no way he was getting out of this one. He avoided Lance’s gaze and decided to glare at his gadget to the right of him.

“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up! What's your deal?”

Hunk reached out to touch antenna satellite, and Pidge turned his head sharply towards his curious friend.

“Second warning, Hunk,” he warned.

Hunk let out a little groan of disappointment, like a kid getting caught out by his mother for stealing food. Which, he had probably done before.

“Look Pidge,” Lance started again, refusing to let the topic drop, “if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets.”

“Fine,” Pidge gave in. “The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction of crew mistake-- STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!” Pidge yelled at Hunk who had tried to toy with one of his inventions again. 

Hunk merely let out a defeated whine and slumped sideways.

“So I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.”

“Whoa. What? Aliens?” Hunk quizzed, sitting up immediately, eyes wide.

Lance wasn't buying any of it. 

“Okay. So you're insane. Got it,” he pointed out, unimpressed.

“I'm serious. They keep repeating one word, ‘Voltron’,” Pidge insisted, holding up a crayon sketch of what looked like an angry robotic demon with a huge sword, attacking some disfigured lady. The word ‘Voltron’ were scribbled in block letters at the top. “And tonight,” he went on, “it's going crazier than I have ever heard it.” 

Hunk’s eyes widened with concern.

“How crazy?” Lance asked, not going to be swayed by the fact that Pidge drew a weird illustration of some foreign word and he was now supposed to believe it.

“Attention, students!” Iverson ordered over the PA. “This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”

“What's going on?” Hunk asked, standing up. “Is that a meteor?” 

He pointed, horrified, at the night sky. Something was falling down from above the clouds and beyond, growing closer and closer with every passing second.

“A very, very big meteor?”

Pidge furrowed his eyebrows and grabbed the binoculars beside him. He looked up towards the incoming thing.

“It's a ship!” 

Lance immediately grabbed the binoculars from Pidge, who didn't let go, and instead gave out a yelp as Lance peered up at the ship with the binoculars Pidge was still holding.

“Holy crow!” He exclaimed. “I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours.”

It certainly wasn't. It looked sort of like a shuttle. A space shuttle at that, with a highly unusual design.

“No,” Pidge agreed, “it's one of theirs.”

“So wait, there really are aliens out there?” Hunk asked, half terrified, half amazed.

The thing passed the three teens and landed somewhere north-east of them, with a loud crash. Squadron vehicles started to power up, and headed in the direction to where the shuttle crashed.

Pidge turned to the other two boys.

“We gotta see that ship!” He exclaimed, slinging his backpack over his shoulders and running off. Lance followed suit, excited too. Hunk, was less willing.

“Hunk, come on!” Lance demanded, sensing his hesitation.

“Oh, this is the worst team building exercise ever,” he grumbled, trying to catch up to Pidge and Lance.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

The team managed to find a good place to set up and spy on the Garrison members that were already getting to work with the strange ship, and loading it onto a truck of sorts. They found a higher ground, and as Pidge was trying to hack the cameras. Lance was using the binoculars to figure out what was going on.

“Whoa! What the heck is that thing?” Lance asked rhetorically, completely awed.

The ship was so unlike anything at the Garrison. For starters, it was huge and had a very intimidating, dark build and design to it, like it wanted to scare others that saw it. The thrusters glowed purple, if he was to even call them thrusters, since they looked nothing like them. However he assumed they had the same job.

He turned his sight towards the entrance of the building the Garrison had quickly set up, and a very pretty, tall blonde walked out with a checklist. He zoomed in closer.

“And who the heck is she?” His voice growing much deeper as he spoke it.

That triggered a smack from Pidge.

“Lance!” He said, waking him up from his gaze.

“Ow!” Lance yelped, zooming out again. “Right, alien ship. Man, we'll never get past all those guards to get a look.”

“Aw, man,” Hunk whined, deciding to try his luck even though he very much doubted Lance and Pidge would give up just yet. “Yeah, yeah, I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?”

“Wait,” Pidge said. “They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look.”

The two boys leaned over Pidge’s screen, both curious.

There was a man in shabby clothing strapped to a stretcher with nurses wearing gas masks leaned over to examine him. He really did look in bad shape.

“Hey!” The man exclaimed, panicked. “What are you doing?”

“Calm down, Shiro,” one of the nurses assured. “We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests.”

“You have to listen to me!” The man, Shiro, continued. He struggled against his bounds, trying to break free. “They destroy worlds! Aliens are coming!”

“That's Shiro! The pilot of the Kerberos Mission!” Lance pointed out, amazed. “That guy’s my hero!”

“Guess he's not dead in space after all,” Hunk replied.

“Where’s the rest if the crew?” Pidge queried, raising an eyebrow.

“Do you know how long you've been gone?” The nurse continued.

“I don't know,” Shiro said hastily, getting frustrated. “Months? Years? Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!”

“Voltron!” Pidge gasped, as Hunk and Lance shot each other an equally puzzled look.

“Sir, take a look at this,” a nurse stated. “It appears his arm has been replaced by a cyborg prosthetic.”

Sir enough, the nurse was correct and this was proven more so after Shiro balled his hand self-consciously into a fist, the arm making a robotic tick.

“Put him under until we know what that thing can do.”

Shiro looked horrified and scared at the sound of that. 

“Don't put me under! No! There's no time!” He said frantically as one of the nurses held his head back and another approached with a needle.

“They didn't ask about the rest of the crew,” Pidge said, feeling betrayed by the injustice.

“What are they doing? That guy’s a legend! Their not even gonna listen to him?” Lance asked, confused and feeling sort of sorry for Shiro.

“We have to get him out,” Pidge said with finality.

“Uh, I hate being the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?” Hunk expressed.

“That was before we were properly motivated,” Lance replied. “We just got to think. Could we tunnel in?” 

“Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs,” Pidge offered.

“Or we dress up like cooks, head back to the dorms, sneak into the commissary-- little late night snack,” Hunk said, grinning dreamily at his own mention of food.

“No,” Lance said. “What we need is a distraction.”

And just like that, explosions went off in the distance, about seven of them, not too far from the base. Lance, Pidge and Hunk let out a terrified scream as they witnessed the random detonations.

Hunk immediately cowered in fear. He knew he should've stayed back at the dorms. Hell, if those were what he thought those were he was going to have to drag Pidge and Lance back to the Garrison where hopefully they'll be safe.

“Is that the aliens? I-Is that th-the aliens? Are they here? They got here so quick!” He stuttered, hands on his head.

“No,” Pidge said, squinting into the darkness and pointing. “Those explosions were a distraction, for him.”

Just like that, a dark figure on a lone vehicle started making their way towards the Garrison base, unbeknownst to the guards.

“The Garrison’s headed towards the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side.”

Lance reached for the binoculars again to identify the strange guy. He couldn't believe his eyes once he saw who it was.

“No way! Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!” He exclaimed with passion. 

He lowered the binoculars and made a start to the base with surprisingly quick speed.

“Who is it?” Hunk asked.

“Keith!” 

“Who?” Pidge questioned, equally confused.

“Are you sure?” Hunk catechised again, starting to run after Lance.

“Oh, I’d recognise that mullet anywhere!” Lance yelled back, now extremely determined to get to Shiro.

“Who’s Keith?” Pidge asked, oblivious, but still getting his backpack and chasing after the two boys ahead of him.

They slid down a slope and sprinted with energy (mostly from Lance) to the base that was now empty with guards.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“These readings are off the chart,” the nurse stated, just as the door opened to reveal a male teenager, with a red jacket and boots, black gloves, a brown cloth covering his nose and mouth and a scruffy mullet. He narrowed his dark, intense eyes daringly, but that wouldn't suffice for the Garrison med techs.

“Hey!” One of them exclaimed as they advanced towards the intruder.

The young man wasted no time, raising his fists and punching one of them square in the jaw, sending him flying across the room. He grabbed another by the torso and physically chucked him at one of the side tables. He landed with a crash. The last one was taken out by a swift kick to the face, therefore colliding with the stretcher behind him and knocking himself out.

The trespasser jumped expertly over the unconscious men to wear Shiro was out cold. He took off the cloth around his mouth and touched Shiro’s face, just to make sure this wasn't some crazy joke (Shiro did look quite different, if the robotic arm, his attire and the whitening hair was any indication about him). Shiro grunted in response. The boy couldn't believe this was happening.

“Shiro?” He asked, his voice sounding a little younger than it should have.

There was no time to get overwhelmed in feelings or wound-up in deciding whether it was really him, the Garrison will soon realise that the explosions were nothing and they could be returning any minute. He had to move quickly.

Cutting the binds and slinging an arm around Shiro to help him walk, he was about to escape when--

“Nope. No you-- no, no, no. No, you don't. I'm saving Shiro,” a boy around his age walking in, ignoring all the unconscious men, pushing aside the stretcher and taking Shiro’s other arm and slinging it around his shoulders. 

“Who are you?” Keith said before he could stop himself.

“Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance,” he said, batting his dark blue eyes at him, like he was expecting something. 

When Keith said nothing, he went on, “We were in the same class at the Garrison.”

Keith started to feel kind of guilty for not remembering the young guy, Lance. But then again, he hardly remembered anyone from the Garrison.

“Really? Are you an engineer?” Keith asked, hoping to god he was right. 

“No, I'm a pilot!” Lance said, incredulously. He can't believe Keith did not remember him. “We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck.”

“Oh wait, I remember you,” Keith said, his eyebrows furrowed. “You're a cargo pilot.”

“Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out,” Lance snapped back. 

Was he really that irrelevant? Did Keith seriously not remember him after all those years of torment Lance had suffered trying to be better than him? To prove that he was worth something? He had imagined coming in here and Keith immediately remembering Lance and both of them fighting it out to see who'll be worthy enough to save Shiro. This was by far much worse. This proved that Keith never saw anything of Lance, though Lance had always saw Keith as the one with the crown on his head, with all the talent, with all the glory. Iverson was right. If it weren't for Keith’s stupid lack of obedience, Lance would still be nothing more than a cargo pilot. And for some reason, that made Lance dislike Keith even more.

“Well, congratulations,” Keith said, suddenly remembering that he had a mission and that his time was running out. He doubted he could shake this guy though. Lance sounded quite as determined as him, so Keith decided he could tag along. If he fell behind though, that wouldn't be his problem.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

The whole entire group was coming back, quite quickly, at that fact. They must've caught on that it was a distraction and they're intercoms weren't being picked up by the med techs.

“Oh, man. They're coming back and they do not look happy. We've gotta go,” Hunk alerted through his binoculars.

Pidge and Hunk ran towards the vehicle where Lance and Keith were dragging Shiro. The hoverwing of red, chipped paint didn't look like it could hold five males, but it was everyone's only way on getting out of there. Hunk thought it would be polite to ask Keith whether they could escape with him.

“Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?” 

When Keith didn't answer, Hunk took it upon himself to take that as a ‘yes’. As soon as Hunk climbed on the back of the hovering vehicle, the whole thing lurched forward and hit the ground on Hunk’s side.

“Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?” Pidge asked.

“No,” Keith replied.

The Garrison was closing in on them now, blue lights flashed brightly as they neared Keith and the others. 

It was time to go, Keith thought as he revved up the engine and spun it fluently, 180 degrees and sped off.

“Why am I holding this guy?” Pidge asked, slightly annoyed he was unconscious.

The only reason why he wanted to save Shiro was because he probably had the best chance of knowing what happened to the rest of the crew on the Kerberos Mission. And now he was knocked out cold and they were risking their butts and possibly their spots in the Garrison for him. Pidge prayed this wasn't for nothing.

“Hey, we did all fit!” Hunk exclaimed happily.

The Garrison was slowly catching up to them, Lance was aware. He turned his head back towards Keith.

“Can't this thing go any faster?”

“We can toss out some non-essential weight,” Keith replied.

“Oh, right,” Lance said, perking up to that. He can and will be useful from now on, and he can and will get them out of here. He looked around, and realised that there was no weight to throw off. It was only the five boys. Then he realised…

“Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.”

“Big man, lean left,” Keith called out to Hunk.

Hunk obeyed the order and by doing so, caused the hoverwing to jerk sideways immediately. Two Garrison cars were caught off guard by the sudden change of direction, that they crashed into each other and sent each one sprawling. 

“Aw, man!” Hunk commentated with awe. “Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery! No, no. He's fine.”

They suddenly started to advance upwards, nearing a cliff. 

“Big man, lean right!”

Hunk did so, and sent the hoverwing flying through the air and landing on a totally other rocky terrain. Pidge, Lance and Hunk let own their own different pitched screams as Keith landed the vehicle with the ease of an expert. One of the cars behind him wasn't so lucky, and had too much of a rough landing, rolling to the side. Now the boys only had one more Garrison car to shake.

“Guys…” Hunk stuttered, eyes slowly widening with dread at the path in front of him. “I-I-Is that a cliff up ahead?”

“Oh no, no, no,” Lance started frantically, thinking he might die. He already knew how Keith was and what he was planning to do.

Hunk and Pidge, not so much. They didn't know the reckless, dangerous outsider Keith was, so they most likely thought he would change course or stop. But he revved the engine up faster, speeding up.

“Yup,” he grinned as everyone protested behind him.

But it was too late. In matter of seconds, Keith would of ended them all. The hoverwing leapt off the cliffside, and they descended, airborne. Pidge, Lance and Hunk were screaming bloody murder and hanging onto dear life. The last Garrison vehicle stopped, not taking the risk.

“What are you doing? You're gonna kill us all!” Lance shrieked as they kept falling.

“Shut up and trust me!” Keith yelled back, voice filled with firmness.

And then, in one great manoeuvre, Keith landed the hoverwing very impressively, and in no time at all, they were continuing their journey to god-knows-where.

Keith gave credit to the man who taught him that move.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

It was early morning, the sun rising just above the horizon, the dry land set our before him peacefully. Peace. That wasn't something Shiro had witnessed much in the past year.

There was so much to tell Earth. So much to warn them about. But would they believe him? He may sound crazy. What if he got thrown in a mental hospital? And why can't he remember everything? He didn't know any details, which would not help his case at all. In fact, that would probably make him seem more insane if he couldn't tell the, who exactly they were, what was Voltron and how he escaped. 

“It's good to have you back,” he heard a familiar voice say as a hand was placed comfortingly on his shoulder.

Keith appeared right next to him, concerned. Wow, he had grown in the last year. He looked much different, and yet still the same kid Shiro had known all those years ago.

“It's good to be back,” Shiro said, doing his best to put on an assuring tone.

“So what happened out there? Where were you?” Keith asked, a sense of loss filtering his face.

Shiro shouldn't be surprised that Keith would cut straight to the questions. He did owe him the answers, seeing as he left Keith by himself for a year, and he would of gladly told Keith everything, but he couldn't remember much at all. So he only told him what he knew.

“I wish I could tell you. My head’s still pretty scrambled. I was on an alien ship, but I somehow escaped. It's all a blur.” A thought struck him. “How did you know to come save me when I crashed?”

Keith’s expression looked of something of worried and confusion.

“You should come see this,” he said.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Keith had led Shiro into the living room, where Lance, Pidge and Hunk were waiting. A large board was covered by a sheet, and as Keith pulled it down, it revealed maps, illustrations, theories, notes and different coloured strings connecting them all. 

Shiro thought it was amazing. Lance thought Keith had too much free time.

“What have you been working on?” Shiro asked, gazing at Keith’s board.

“I can't explain it, really,” Keith shrugged. “After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kind of lost and found myself drawn out to this place. It's like something… some energy, was telling me to search.”

“For what?” Shiro quizzed, curious.

“Well, I didn't really know at the time… until I stumbled across this area.”

Keith pointed to wear all the strings met at. In black marker, Keith had wrote in capitals; ‘ENERGY SOURCE!’

“It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings.”

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows and stared up at the wall, examining the different photos one by one, each with a strange, different carving of a lion. Keith was getting onto something.

“Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night.”

Keith then glanced at Shiro.

“Then, you showed up.”

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. What role was he playing in all of this? Clearly, this was a part of something bigger than him. Something that could involve the whole world.

Then he remembered the other three boys in the room.

“I should thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?” He asked, reaching out his hand.

Lance hesitated. Should he really be shaking Shiro’s hand? He didn't really do anything when he thought about it. Pidge was the one with all the handy equipment, Hunk had help them escaped on the hoverwing and Keith did most of the work by himself. What did Lance even do besides be an annoyance? 

He shook the thought away. This was his childhood hero, willing to shake his hand. Of course Lance was going to shake it. Why wouldn't he?

Lance smiled and shook his hand. Shiro had quite a firm grip.

Shiro turned to Pidge and Hunk.

“The nervous guy’s Hunk, I'm Pidge,” the small one with the glasses, askew hair and a green sweater told him, shaking his hand too. “So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?”

“I'm not sure,” Shiro replied honestly. “I remember the mission and being captured. After that it's just bits and pieces.”

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for us? Where are they at this very moment?” Hunk interrogated. 

“I can't really put it together,” Shiro admitted. “I remember the word ‘Voltron’. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.”

Hunk reached into Pidge’s backpack and said, “Well, last night, I was rummaging through Pidge’s stuff, and I found this picture.” 

He then pulled out a picture of him, and a younger girl with long hair and a bright smile on her face. His arm was around her shoulders and she was wearing a purple dress. They both looked so happy.

“Look it's his girlfriend,” Hunk chuckled with a smirk.

Pidge leapt up and snatched the picture from Hunk’s grasp, quite panicked.

“Hey, give me that!” He cried, trying to keep his voice normally even. “What were you doing in my stuff?” He asked deciding to change the subject, and snatching his backpack away.

“I was looking for a candy bar. But, then, I started reading his diary,” Hunk said, revealing the small, red book in his hand.

Pidge looked horrified. All his secrets were in there! Could Hunk know everything now? His identity? His connection with the Kerberos Mission? Would he tell anyone? He wouldn't! 

“What?” Pidge forced out, quickly snatching it from Hunk’s grasp again. He really had to take security measures with his things. Especially if one of his best friends was Hunk.

“I noticed the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line.”

“Frown who?” Keith questioned in confusion.

“It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element, only, this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron. I think I can build a machine to look for it, like a Voltron Geiger counter.”

“Hunk, you big, gassy genius!” Lance exclaimed, fondly.

“It's pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this,” Hunk said, revealing a paper with the sketch of a graph and the wavelength going up and down in peculiar and inconsistent ways.

“Give me that,” Keith said, snatching the sketch and walking up to his board. He then compared it to one of the photos he had up there. A rocky location. They both matched the horizon.

Keith turned to the boys. They all knew where they had to go next.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

They had officially arrived to their destination, the rocky surface spread out across the five, curious boys matching the image exactly. A picturesque terrain that was rock strewn, covered in boulders and mountains/cliffs, complete with a few caves here and there.

The sun beat down on the five, Hunk concentrating on his makeshift tracking device he was holding out in front of him that was beeping steadily, Pidge looking around amazed at the sight as he held up a mini antenna satellite for Hunk to get some readings, Lance crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow at the suspicious place, Keith scanning his eyes around with a newfound fire in his eyes, and Shiro harbouring a contemplative face, his stance one of courageous but yet unsure.

“Okay, I admit it,” Lance stated bluntly, “this is super freaky.”

“I'm getting a reading,” Hunk announced, shoving Pidge aside, scanning the land, eyes squinted and marched forwards, leading the group.

As the beeping on Hunk’s tracker intensified, they reached a cave, that looked like it went pretty deep into the mountain. The energy the five felt was strong. Hunk was planning on making an old Star Wars joke once reaching it, but even he was amazed by the aura around the place.

“Whoa,” he let out.

They emerged into the cave, to find the dark place was filled with strange carvings, similar to the ones Keith took pictures of. Hunk and Pidge were in utter amazement, Keith, Shiro and Lance seemed more eager to find the energy source.

“Whoa,” Hunk breathed out again.

“What are these?” Shiro asked.

“These were the lion carvings I was telling you about,” Keith answered as Lance walked up to one of the carvings. “They're everywhere around here.”

“Hmm…” Lance said, peering over at one particular carving that was covered in dust.

He brushed the dirt from off the carving so he could take a better look at the lion carving beneath it, but then something incredible happened. The carvings all around the caves sparked up as soon as Lance made contact with one of them. They turned an electric blue colour almost instantly, catching the boy off-guard.

“Whoa, Whoa!” Lance exclaimed, jumping back.

“What?” The boys went, staring up in awe at the glowing cave.

“They've never done that before,” Keith mentioned.

Out of nowhere, the ground around them caved in, leaving the boys screaming and sliding down a wet, dark slope to a mystery place in their wake. Pidge screeched more than he thought he could humanly do in the last 24 hours, somehow on top of Hunk and grabbing him by his hair.

They seemed to finally land in a damp area, creating a huge splash (especially Hunk) as they dived headfirst into the leakage. Lance was the first one to stand up and spot her. He let out a small gasp.

Right there, he saw her.

A huge, giant, sky blue, female lion. A robotic one at that. With large, muscular hind legs, sharp yellow eyes (that seemed to gleam more knowingly at Lance) and huge jaws. She was sitting in an upright position, as if she was waiting for someone. Around her was a defensive sphere of blue that shielded her from the outside world, a force field, if you will.

“They are everywhere,” he murmured.

“Is this it?” Pidge asked. “Is this the Voltron?”

“It must be,” Shiro agreed.

“This what's been causing all of this crazy energy out here,” Keith pointed out, making his way over to the huge lion. “Look like there's a force field around it.”

The other four followed cautiously behind him, still in a slight daze. Lance looked concerned. He zigzagged a bit, eyes still trained on the lion.

“Does anyone else get the feeling that this thing is staring at them?” He asked.

“No,” Shiro answered.

“Yeah,” Lance went on. “The eyes are totally following me.”

The lion did not soften its hard gaze on Lance. Even though the thing did not have any pupils, and the eyes was one solid yellow colour, somehow the eyes were being trained on the young pilot.

Keith put out his hands against the firm force field and stared up at the lion.

“I wonder how we get through this.”

“Maybe you just have to knock,” Lance answered playfully, jokingly knocking the force field. But apparently, that was all you had to do. Or all he had to do.

The force field immediately opened way for Lance, and Lance (letting a small yelp of disbelief leave his mouth) watched in utter bewilderment as the floor around the lion gleamed in the same electric blue runes, and the vision was implanted into all of their heads.

A huge, humanoid robot, made of five different lions combining into one. The yellow and blue making up the legs, the red and green being the arms and the large black one was the head and chest area. It wielded a great sword of fire, swinging it around expertly, the energy around the robot crackling with power. It meant business. It meant power. It meant justice.

“Whoa,” Lance let out as the vision ended. “Uh, did everyone just see that?”

“Voltron is a robot!” Hunk exclaimed. “Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!”

“And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are,” Pidge added on.

“This is what they're looking for,” Shiro said with finality.

“Incredible,” Keith awed.

Then the lion lowered itself, bringing its head forward right to wear the five boys were. Pidge and Hunk yelped in fear, probably thinking it was there to eat them. Keith and Shiro took on a fighting stance, ready to defend themselves (even though they probably couldn't) if push came to shove. Lance, however, remained still. He was absolutely certain the lion wasn't there to hurt him. He didn't know how he knew, he just knew.

“Hmm.” 

It's going to open its mouth for us to enter, Lance thought. And just like that, it did, inviting the five adventurers in.

Lance chuckled at that, and confidently made his way inside. He knew it was safe. He just knew it.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

The control room was dandy enough. It opened to reveal a lone chair with cabinets and a tabletop (that looked as if their should of been controls but weren't) edging the perimeter of the small peculiar room. This looked like it was the head of the lion.

“Huh,” Lance said checking it out. “Hmmph. Mm.. hmm!”

He made himself comfortable in the chair, bringing a leg up to his knee and resting his head. He took to note that this was a very suitable sitting place.

“Here we go,” he sighed with content.

Suddenly, the seat was brought forward and Lance squealed in shock. The whole place lit up, holographic screens appearing to signalise futuristic controls, the screen before him opening up to reveal his surroundings in a targeted way, and readings that represented all his ‘dream’ planes he had wanted to fly when he was a kid.

He let out a jubilant laugh as he heard Pidge and Hunk go, “whoa…” behind him.

“All right, very nice.”

“Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so we're all aware,” Hunk started, standing next to him and talking to Pidge (who looked so amazed at this new tech) who was on the other side of him, and Shiro (who was listening respectfully) and Keith (that looked slightly annoyed at this ‘fun sponge’ before him) who were behind him. “We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now.”

Suddenly, Lance was taken away to another place, seeing the skeleton of the lion, his friends disappearing around him, and a low, deep and soothing purring filling his ears. And then he was back.

“Whoa. Did you guys hear that?” Lance said, turning back towards them.

“Hear what?” Keith asked.

“I think it's talking to me,” Lance explained, staring at the controls before him, and leaning in to get a closer look at them. “Hmm… uh…” and without really knowing what he was doing, he keyed in a few buttons, and the lion stood in a powerful position and let out a mighty roar.

Pidge and Hunk screamed, Shiro was amazed, Keith looked fairly impressed. 

“Okay. Got it. Now let's try this.”

Lance then grabbed the control sticks and pushed them forward forcefully, a grin on his face. The lion burst out of the cave with ease, flying out into the open without a dent on it. It maneuvered into a flip as it descended, falling until the thrusters on its feet sparked up and blasted, sending the air around it to part way as the lion let out a powerful roar. It blasted into the air, going at a speed so much faster than what everyone was used to.

This was shown as Pidge was screaming, holding onto Lance’s shirt for balance. Hunk was the same, grabbing a fistful of Lance’s hair and pulling it roughly as his loud screeches were rebreveating into Lance’s skull. Keith knocked into Shiro and was latching onto a roof handle and looking constipated. Shiro was grabbing one of the controls, and trying his best to remain upright. Lance’s eye was twitching.

“You are. The worst. Pilot. Ever!” Keith exclaimed as the lion did another impressive backflip and blasted off again.

Now Lance had joined the terrified screaming. 

They were high in the sky now, and Lance could even spot the Garrison from up there. Oh, hopefully Commander Iverson wasn't there watching them. He would be so mad.

The lion finally dove back to the ground after showing off its cool moves (that normal planes could never muster), and started sprinting at an amazingly fast speed. 

Lance grinned.

“Isn't this awesome?”

“Make it stop,” Hunk groaned, his ‘I'm-about-to-throw-up-again-and-you-can't-stop-me’ look on his face.

“I'm not making it do anything,” Lance admitted, very pleased. “It's like it's on autopilot.”

It blasted off again, this time looking like it had no intention on coming back down to Earth in a while. 

“Where are you going?” Keith demanded.

“I just said it was on autopilot,” Lance said, exasperated. “It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it.”

“What did it say, exactly?” Pidge asked, half annoyed, half panicked.

Oh, how was he supposed to explain that?

“It's not like it's saying words. It's more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of.”

“Well,” Hunk started, talking very fast, “if this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just like, I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone? Sorry lion, nothing personal.”

“You don't understand,” Shiro spoke up, a serious and deadly look in his eyes, “These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead.” 

Everyone glared at Hunk.

“Oh,” he said, grinning sheepishly, “never mind then.”

The lion was now out of the Earth’s atmosphere, and they could all see the beautiful, round planet they called ‘home’ clearly. The sun shone over it spectacularly, and the splotches of fluffy white, deep blue and shades of different greens covered the gorgeous sphere, and Lance never knew that the sight would be this beautiful. He was reminded once again about why he wanted to be a space explorer.

The lion let out a roar, seeming to understand or at least read Lance’s feeling and connection towards the planet.

Yet it kept flying out into the starry abyss, until a large, alarming battleship appeared out of nowhere. The team gasped in fright and astonishment.

“Uh…” Hunk started, feeling terror for the millionth time seep into his veins. “Holy crow! Is that really an alien ship?” 

The lion zoomed to the side of it as the team took in the sight of the galactic menace.

“They found me,” Shiro uttered.

Instantaneously, the ship became firing multiple beams of bright purple at the blue lion.

“We gotta get it out of here!” Pidge shouted, and Lance was on top of that.

“Hold on!” He cried as he reached for the control sticks and pulled them violently to him, as the lion jerked away from each blast.

Lance was more scared than he cared to admit. He was very aware that this wasn't a simulator, and that this was real life. It could mean death to him and his friends if he screwed up. He took it silently, that he would get himself, Pidge, Hunk and Shiro to safety. It was the least he could do for being so useless all the time. He promised he won't screw this up for them. Oh, and he guessed Keith too.

The lion dodged with incredible agility, but once Lance found an opening, he willed the lion to blast off, away from Earth. 

“All right,” he declared, eyes trained at the space before him. “Okay, I think I know what to do.”

“Be careful, man! This isn't a simulator!” Pidge yelled, reminding Lance once again of his stomach-dropping fear.

Play it off as a joke, his inner voice said. That's what you always do anyways.

“Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator,” he chuckled, feeling very small on the inside.

The ship began firing again, too close for comfort. He advanced the alien ship with speed, swerving and dodging the upcoming blasts, and pushed the left controller stick forward and the other back, setting of an icy/electric blue laser, burning the side of the ship, and causing multiple explosions to go off.

“Let's try this,” he notified before playing with the controls a bit more and shooting off at the ship.

The lion navigated this way and that, avoiding all the blasts the ship were firing at them, and finally bringing its claws up and scratching a deep and crooked line through the ship, leaving a hot, molten dash. It must've somehow reacted to the metal made of the ship, because the next thing the boys knew, was more explosions going off at that, damaging the ship.

“Nice job, Lance,” Shiro exclaimed as the others cheered.

“I think it's time to get these guys away from our planet,” Lance said, feeling quite proud of himself, and not that bad anymore. He had at least redeemed himself, for now.

He steered the lion off, and yet again, the ship followed, but something was off about it.

“Oh no!” Hunk whined, seeing the ship come back around and tag after them.

“They're gaining on us,” Pidge said, a tad of panic in his voice.

“It's weird,” Lance said, deciding to tell the crew his suspicion. “They're not trying to shoot us. They're just chasing.”

“Okay, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good?” Hunk asked incredulously. “I am not on board with this new direction guys!”

“Where are we?” Keith asked, forcefully.

“Edge of the solar system,” Shiro answered. “There's Kerberos.”

And sure enough, the frosty, grey moon was on sight as the blue lion zoomed past it, dodging a few askew slabs of space debris. Pidge looked bewildered.

“It takes months for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in five seconds!” He exclaimed, staring at the moon with disbelief.

Then, out of nowhere, some sort of space portal opened up before them. A swirling portal leading to anywhere. 

“What is that?” Hunk cried.

Lance knew what to do. The hard part was getting the others to trust him. And how could he trust himself? Wait, no, not him. The lion.

“This may seem crazy,” Lance called out, “but I think the lion wants us to go through there.”

“Where does it go?” Pidge asked, voice even, willing to hear Lance out. He trusted Lance, he really did, but he trusted his brain more. 

“I don't know. Shiro, you're the senior officer here. What should we do?”

Shiro was a little taken off-guard by that statement. It was true, these kids were too young to be experiencing this amount of trauma. And Shiro would not let them get captured by those heartless aliens, and watch them go through the amount of suffering and pain Shiro did. He didn't care if he just met most of them, he was already harbouring a bond with each boy, and he was going to do what was the safest for them. What he thought was best.

“Whatever is happening, the lion knows more than we do,” Shiro said. “I say we trust it. But we're a team now. We should decide together.”

Pidge weighed the options out in his head. It was either that, or try to take down that huge ship with this one lion. He didn't like the chances of that. This was a whole new experience for all of them, which meant they were still learning. It would be a miracle if they took it down on their first try, let alone if there was only one ship. He believed backup would be approaching soon. Plus, the risk of failure was too big. It could cost them their lives, or even worse, their planet. He guessed the safest thing was going into the mystery portal.

Hunk didn't like it either way. He knew he already stated that. But he wasn't going to argue with Shiro’s knowledge. He probably had a better understanding about what was happening than any of the others did. Oh, how he wished he hadn't listened to Lance when he said they were going to ‘sneak out and hit the town’ that night. Seemed like aeons ago.

Keith trusted Shiro. He knew that much. He would always trust Shiro. But he didn't know about the other three. Lance didn't like him, he knew that for sure. He didn't know exactly why that was so, but he wasn't sure he really cared to ask. He had just met Pidge and Hunk, and he didn't know what to think about them. Hunk seemed pretty annoying and scared all the time, plus, he was green in the face. If that big guy vomited on Keith, Keith was gonna rage. Pidge, was way too nerdy. Keith thought he may get annoyed by that too sooner or later. So he wasn't sure about the whole ‘team’ thing Shiro was going on about here. He was solo. But he didn't really have time to contemplate the concept of teamwork right now.

Lance was obediently waiting for orders, and mentally relaxed when Pidge put a comforting hand on his shoulder, signalling that he could go. He would probably have to thank Shiro later for convincing the team, if he remembered.

“All right,” Lance proclaimed, a new sense of purpose to his voice. “Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow.”

He then willed the lion to blast into the portal, and after that, they zoomed into the unknown.

Little did the five know, their lives had just changed forever.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hoped you somewhat enjoyed this chapter! As you know (if you watch Voltron) episode 1 is longgggggg. I ain't complaining though I freaking love this Netflix series. However, I can't fit it all in one chapter. This was only about 21 - 22mins, as long as an actual episode is. So the first episode will probably be split into three or four parts, depending if I can squish them all in. 
> 
> Anyways, I found novelising VLD to be much harder than I thought it would be. Especially describing different things. Partly because the whole thing is so creative and futuristic that these things don't even have labels yet (and you can't use the word ‘futuristic’ to describe it since it's not in their time period), but also because I'm a dumbass and I have no idea what most of the stuff in the show are called. I spent legit 40mins researching what a hoverwing, antenna satellite and a pilot’s control stick was. Yup, I'm pretty hopeless.
> 
> Plus, I rewatched scenes over and over again, just trying to determine how I should write it. And can I just say, rewatching the episode has made me realise how much the characters have developed over the season! Especially Lance (As you can probably tell, I'm a huge Lance stan, and I can't wait to write more of his slow burn character development) and Keith. Pidge, Hunk and Shiro too, for sure, as well. But rewatching it makes me realise that even more!
> 
> Anyways, I don't know my schedule yet… I'll just be posting whenever I get bursts of motivation, with, after watching season 7, which was my favourite season of all time, will be hopefully soon. I've got a lot of stuff coming up though, including parties, Interactive Introverts, out-of-school curriculum and tonnes of tests to prepare for. However, I promise I'll stay tuned.
> 
> Bye for now loves,  
> Yanna <333


	2. S1E1: "The Rise of Voltron" Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Blue Lion journeys to a whole other planet, called Arus. It takes them to a strange, beautiful castle out in nowhere, and together the team uncovers a whole lot of shocking truths and horrible realisations to what they’re up against once meeting two significant encounters. The trouble is only beginning…

They arrived at a planet, similar to Earth, but yet entirely different. The whole team looked around, yet there were only stars and this mystery planet. With vast areas of land, and what looked like to be ocean covering one half of it, the lion remained on course towards it.

“Whoa,” Lance breathed out. “That was…”

Next to him, Hunk threw up. 

Lance turned his head sharply away to save himself the sight, Pidge stared, horrified at his best mate, Keith looked disgusted but not shocked in the least and Shiro kept a straight face respectfully.

“So sorry,” he managed to force out before continuing to puke.

“I'm just surprised it took this long,” Pidge stated, fixing his glasses.

“I don't recognise any of these constellations,” Shiro pointed out, deciding to steer the conversation away from the vomiting boy. “We must be a long, long way from Earth.” 

“The lion seems to want to go to this planet. I think…” Lance started as the lion blasted towards it, “I think it's going home.”

It entered the atmosphere and the whole lion shook with turbulence. The team held on tighter. As they descended, Lance scowled in discomfort.

“Guys, personal space! Hunk, your breath is killing me,” he said, knowing the experience would of been way more cooler if it was just him (though he would be much, much more afraid).

“Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole?” Hunk asked. “Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?”

“It got us away from that alien warship, didn't it?” Lance replied, trying to prove his point. 

“I don't know if you noticed,” Keith pointed out, bluntly, “but we're in an alien warship.”

“Oh, are you scared?” Lance asked, his trademark smirk displaying on his face as he teased the boy behind him.

“With you at the helm? Terrified.”

“All right, knock it off,” Shiro demanded, sensing that the two boys were about to delve into some sort of bickering. They did not have time for that right now. “No one’s happy to be in this situation, but we're here now. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together.”

Keith mentally rolled his eyes. Why did this have to be so cheesy? And teaming up with people was not his forte, if his short experience at the Garrison told him anything. So he didn't know why Shiro kept bringing it up, especially when he just met most of them. 

“So, what do we do?” Pidge asked, and Keith thought that was a great question.

“First, we find out where we're headed,” Shiro confirmed. “Lance?”

“I don't know,” he admitted. 

Keith groaned mentally in his mind, because this just seemed so typical of him. How can he just take them away to a whole other area of the universe and then simply say ‘I don't know’ when asked where they were going. It was his idea to jump into that wormhole! However, Keith didn't say anything because he didn't want to tick off Shiro again.

“I'm sorry. The lion’s not talking to me anymore. Wait! Wait, wait, wait!” He declared, craning his neck and listening. “Shh! Listen, I think I hear something.”

Keith decided to take Lance’s word for it and listened out too. It sounded something like passing gas…

“I'm hearing it too,” he said (unbeknownst to him, Lance started smirking like a maniac).

“It's uh-- It’s kind of a-- a high-pitched squeal?” Hunk chimed in.

They all realised what it was a little too late. The boys simultaneously covered there nose and mouths. Hunk looked sick (“c’mon Lance”). Pidge looked traumatised. Shiro was concentrating on not breathing (the vomit and the fart is too much). Keith was boiling in rage. Lance was grinning victoriously. He was about to lash out at him again, wondering what the heck his problem was, until Lance said his next words.

“But seriously, there's a castle up ahead.”

Sure enough, a gleaming, white castle was sighted overhead. It was set on a lone hill, a marvellous, long and steely bridge connecting it to the other nearest slope and the entrance. It had some sort of energetic crystal that seemed to power the whole thing, like the mysterious alien ship, but this was a bright aquamarine colour. Even though the team had never seen anything like it before, they could tell it was very sacred, powerful, and held a lot of deep meaning just by being in its presence. 

The team let out a soft “wow”, as the lion approached it. When it came into close range, it's eyes shone brighter than before, as if it finally found home. The castle, in response, had the top of each four towers, and of course, the big one in the middle, gleam with acknowledgement. The crystals on each tower glowed stronger than before.

All the team could do was stare as the lion made its way to the entrance, and landed. They were right outside the main doors to the castle, and the lion looked like it wanted the team to enter. However, they were yet to spot any signs of life.

“Keep your guard up,” Shiro warned. He wasn't going to take any chances. Who knows what kinds of horrors could be hiding inside there?

“Something wrong?” Pidge asked. He assumed it was safe, especially since there seemed to be no signs of life around here. Of course, someone had to build the castle, but if there was someone inhabiting it, surely they would have some guards, a village nearby, or they should at least of come outside to see what the ruckus was.

“My crew was captured by aliens once, I'm not going to let it happen again,” he replied, and Pidge immediately understood.

They walked out of the lion (the lion bent down and opened its mouth for the crew) and examined the huge doors in front of them. They were giant, made of some white, steely metal, like the rest of the castle. It had a aquamarine crystal in the middle of it, just like it did around the exterior of the castle.

The lion suddenly stood up and Hunk squealed.

“No! I knew it was going to eat us! No!”

But instead, the lion roared, sending the five humans almost deaf. The crystal on the castle doors glowed with knowing, and it opened up (as Hunk whimpered and hid behind Shiro in fear) to reveal a massive (albeit dark) hallway, that seemed to stretch on forever. 

Hunk peeked out from behind Shiro and glanced at the open entrance.

“Oh, the door is open. Guess I was wrong about you,” he grinned, sheepishly.

They walked in, faces grim yet determined. They had no idea where they were going, but everyone knew this was leading them to something big. Something that definitely had to do with Voltron. Hunk stopped and glanced around. He was probably the most scared out of the five, though he couldn't admit it but he was intrigued.

“Hello?” He called, and his voice echoed throughout the lonely, dark castle, with no response back. The team turned at him, Lance raised an eyebrow. Hunk shrugged.

“From the size of the lion, I expected these steps to be bigger,” Pidge stated as they neared a staircase.

It was a large one, but the steps were made as if it were made for people, or at least, people who were the size of them.

Immediately after Pidge said that, a crystal/light directly above them glowed with power. It shot a beam down at the crew as the whole room started to light up, revealing the grand staircase and the rest of the alien, castle interior.

“Hold for identity scan,” a computer-like voice ordered, as the beam swam over them.

The team let out a collective gasp, well, all except Shiro. He looked up, determined and suspicious, like a detective on a case.

“Why are we here?” He demanded. “What do you want with us?”

No answer. However, a hallway that was situated in front of the stairs started to lighten up, the crystallised torches brightening magically as the castle began to switch on.

“I guess we're going that way,” Pidge answered for the group, nodding towards the now-lighted hallway.

Finally, after tonnes of walking, following the lights and Hunk yelling “Hello?” into the oblivion, they reached a set of slide-doors that automatically opened for them. It revealed a circular room, the perimeter having two alien-like pods that could easily fit a human. In the middle of the room seemed to have some sort of switched-off control panel. The room looked alive, but felt like it was sleeping.

“Where are we?” Lance quizzed, staring at the pods with curiosity.

“It's some kind of… control room,” Pidge answered, staring at the control panel, as a weird, aquamarine symbol appeared on it. It started to beep, and steam billowed from the two of the pods in response. They could just make out the silhouette of a figure in each one.

“Are these guys… dead?” Hunk said, hiding behind the control panel and expecting the worst.

Suddenly, one of the pods opened to reveal a girl that looked around 17 or 16, and in an upright coma. She had beautiful, dark skin, and gorgeous, white, long flowing hair. Her blue, pink and white gown went down all the way to the floor, and she wore purple earrings. There was somewhat of a crown the crossed her forehead, an aquamarine crystal in the middle of it. She would of looked human, if it wasn't for her pointy, elf-like ears and the pink markings under her eyes. 

She awoke with a gasp, her azure blue eyes baring panic. “Father!” She cried as she reached her hand out and started to fall. Lance, who was the closest to her, catched her before she could hit the ground.

She let out a small breath and lifted her head up a bit, to stare into Lance’s eyes dazedly. Lance felt his cheeks flush all of a sudden. Knowing what this feeling meant every time he encountered a pretty girl, he flashed her his signature, charming grin.

“Hello,” he purred.

“Who are you? Where am I?” The strange lady asked, ignoring the sign of flirtiness from Lance.

“I'm Lance,” he cooed. “And you're right here in my arms.”

“Your ears,” she said, staring at his ears with a mixture of fear, shock, suspicion, daze and wonder. Lance was pretty surprised she would mention his ears out of every other beautiful feature of himself.

“Yeah?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“They're hideous,” she said bluntly, stepping away from him and scowling at him with disgust. “What's wrong with them?”

“Nothing's wrong with them!” Lance exclaimed, getting defensive. “They heard exactly what you said about them-- argh!”

She cut him off by grabbing his left ear with her right hand, and jerking his head towards her as her left hand held Lance’s right arm. She forced him onto his knees in a kneeling position, ear being painfully pulled, arms and legs defenceless. 

“Who are you?!” She demanded with force. “Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?”

“A giant blue lion brought us here! That's all we know,” Lance responded quickly, desperate for her to let go or at least slacken her grip because he felt as if his ear was getting ripped out.

“How do you have the Blue Lion? What happened to its paladin?” She asked, immediately letting go of Lance as if he wasn't any concern of hers anymore, and stared around at the other four intruders.

Lance collapsed to the ground, cringing and sorta offended no one stepped in to help him. He wasn't expecting Keith to, but he at least thought Pidge and Hunk would help, maybe even Shiro.

“What are you all doing here? Unless…” she trailed off, her eyes suddenly lighting up with a newfound spark. “How long has it been?”

Shiro was the first to speak up.

“We don't know what you're talking about. Why don't you tell us who you are. Maybe we can help,” Shiro offered, deciding that gathering more information would be the best outcome for him and the others.

“I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea,” she said with dignity, holding herself in a powerful posture, despite her being faced with five intruders with disgusting round ears. “I've got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep.”

She rushed over to the control panel in the middle of the room, pressing her hands together on the board. A sudden, blue, holographic screen appeared before her, sending Pidge’s eyes to lighten up with surprise.

“So that's how that works,” he stated, staring at the control panel.

Suddenly, directly left to Lance, the other pod opened up. It revealed a middle aged man, with what looked like a blue themed uniform on, reaching up from his collar to his boots. His hair was a mullet, and a cantaloupe orange colour. His bushy moustache and eyebrows were the same colour. He looked in a trance too, though his dark brown eyes were open. The man also had the same markings under his eyes, and the same ear shape, indicating he was the same species as ‘Princess Allura’.

Once he awoke from his coma, his eyes widened when he saw the closest person (who happened to be poor Lance again, who was this time, minding his own business and rubbing his sore ear). He didn't fall forward as dramatically as the girl before did.

“Enemy combatants!” He screamed, jumping straight out of his pod and aiming for Lance’s head. Lance sidestepped easily, and the man fell to the ground with a loud ‘oof’ sound. 

Lance didn't scowl or yell at the weird stranger for trying to attack him. He just merely raised an eyebrow curiously at the staggering man (who was struggling to regain his feet, so Lance guessed being in an upright coma for a long time could really weigh on you, and jumping at the nearest person was not something you should do upon just waking up), trying to decide why his lion brought him here. Wait, no. The lion. Not his lion. Why did he think that?

“Quiznak!” The man yelled, finally leaning on Allura’s empty pod and glaring at Lance. “You're lucky I have a case of the old ‘sleep chamber knees’. Otherwise I'd grab your head like this-” he stretched his fingers out threateningly, “wrap you up like so-” he crossed his arms over his chest, “one, two, three” he said, holding up one finger for each number. He then snapped his fingers loudly. “Sleepy time,” he declared, confidently.

Everyone was watching the man and Lance now, except Allura, who was still at the panel with a determined look on her face. Shiro watched with a disapproving shake of his head. He, personally, did not agree with middle-aged men trying to attack younger boys. But Lance didn't look the slightest bit disgruntled. In fact, he looked quite amused. So Shiro decided not to interfere, and just watched the two strange fellas.

“Well, before you did that, I’d--” Lance started, then proceeding to throw some karate moves, air-punches and kicks, like a jiu jitsu expert. “Like that,” he said, crossing his arms and grinning when he was finally satisfied with his moves.

“Really?” The man huffed, straightening his arms by his side and puffing out his cheeks, looking like a stereotypical toddler who didn't get the lollipop they wanted. “How can you do that when I've already come at you with this?” He yelped, then bent his knees in a sorta squat-like position, and started aggressively doing what looked like a bad Egyptian dancer hand move, and advancing at Lance in short little jumps, his weird form not even changing. “Ha, ha, ha, hey!” He bellowed.

“Man, these guys are good,” Hunk marvelled to no one in particular.

Allura then felt horror engulf her as she looked at the readings before her. 

“It can't be,” she said, her voice filled with disbelief as she felt very, very small.

“What is it?” Her advisor asked from behind her, immediately distracted by his quarrel with that ugly-eared guy.

“We've been asleep for 10,000 years.”

As soon as she uttered those words, Allura could feel herself getting sent away to how it all happened.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Fire. There was fire all around them. The world outside the castle was set ablaze, as the huge battleship rained down on them with their merciless blasts of disaster. Allura, her father, and her advisor had their faces trained on the alien they all despised. The huge, purple-skinned traitor, of jagged teeth, glowing eyes and intimidating armour, appearing on their screen.

“Zarkon,” he father addressed, his voice filled with forced calm.

“Your fleet has been destroyed, Alfor,” the emperor said, his voice deep yet puissant. “I will be there shortly to claim Voltron.”

Soon after, a large blast from the battleship sent the castle shaking. The three Alteans grunted under the impact. 

“Father!” Allura said with reckless determination. “We must form Voltron and fight before it's too late!”

Alfor straightened. “It's already too late. We must send the lions away. We can't risk them falling into Zarkon’s hands.”

No, no, no! This wasn't how it was supposed to be like. They were supposed to win. Altea was supposed to prevail. Allura couldn't just give up the only hope Altea had left. She couldn't let her father do this. Their people were in trouble. The whole planet was in trouble. They had to defeat Zarkon, Altea depended on it.

“We can't give up hope!” She exclaimed.

But the little, unhelpful voice at the back of her head whispered: it's either Altea, or the universe.

Her father paced over to her, love, sadness and sympathy in his eyes. “I'm sorry daughter,” he said gently, putting a hand on her cheek affectionately. “If all goes well, I'll see you again soon.”

What did that mean?

But before she could question him at all, she could feel her growing unconscious as her father held her steady. He must've used magic, as she swayed unsteadily calling out to him.

“I love you,” he bid.

Everything washed away.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“Planet Altea and all the other planets in our solar system have been destroyed,” the princess announced, though with difficulty. She looked at her advisor with hopelessness in her eyes. Her only other family member (he might as well be family). He looked terribly lost, though he put on a brave face in front of Allura. She couldn't help but let the words spew out of her. “Coran, father is gone. Our entire civilisation...” Allura’s voice seized up.

How could this of happened? How could a whole population be so evil as to wipe out someone's entire home and planet without any remorse? Who would do that to her? To them? If only Zarkon would vanish from the entire universe…

Wait a minute.

Rage boiled up inside of her.

“Zarkon.”

Shiro’s eyes widened in fear and recognition. A flash of memory. An image of a big, deadly, evil and powerful leader. Even though he had forgotten everything, he would never forget that name.

“Zarkon?”

“He was the King of the Galra,” Allura answered, spite and ferociousness still present at the end of her tongue. “A vile creature and enemy to all free people.”

This had definitely confirmed Shiro’s suspicions.

“I remember now… I was his prisoner.” 

“He's still alive? Impossible!” Allura exclaimed with disbelief.

“I can't explain it but it's true. He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron.” 

“He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him, and that's exactly why we must find it before he does.”

Coran lay a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

“Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years.”

“I'm not hungry,” she dismissed as she focused on the control panel in front of her.

“Man, 10,000 years? That's like 1,000 plus 10!” Lance exclaimed with disbelief.

Keith, who was standing behind him, rolled his eyes and wondered how the Garrison hadn't kicked him out for his stupidity.

“That's times ten,” he corrected.

“Whatever, dropout,” Lance shot back, swiftly, though his cheeks were tinted a pink shade.

“I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving,” Hunk stated, patting his belly and staring at the lime green goo Coran had placed out for Allura when she was checking the statistics of the castle.

“Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times,” Pidge said. 

“Hmm, good point,” Hunk reasoned, his hands already reaching to the goo. 

“I can't believe your civilisation had created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago,” Shiro mentioned, turning to the Alteans and away from Hunk. “It must have been an incredible place.”

Hunk tasted the goo and it was nothing like he had ever tasted in his life. It was like a backwards lemon. The taste of the goo hit you so hard that your whole body shuddered, and you would think it's horrible. Then it would mellow out, leaving you with quite a neutral and sort of pleasant aftertaste. Being an avid foodie, Hunk took another handful.

“Yes,” Coran confirmed solemnly, shooting Allura a meaningful glance, “it was… but now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive.”

Allura bit her lip, her eyes widening and letting it all sink in. Coran was all she had left. Her loving father was gone. Her adoring mother was gone. Her sunny people were gone. She was left with close to nothing. She couldn't help but feel her eyes water at the thought.

Coran saw this, and instinctively made his way over to comfort her. Allura immediately through her hands over him and sobbed quietly, forgetting about the others that were occupating the room with her, trying to concentrate on the reassuring strokes of Coran’s hand on her back. 

Her breathing slowly steadied and her ears twitched, as she heard small squeaks. She gasped in recognition. Could it be?

Allura made her way over to the shaft in the control panel, and spotted a group of different-sized, different-coloured mice who were squeaking up at her in welcome and euphoria. 

“Looks like we're not the last after all,” she said, talking to no one in particular. Her cheeks flushed with a newfound happiness and hope. Not all was lost.

As if she had jinxed herself, the control panel turned red and a loud alarm started blaring. The control panel seemed to put on view an intergalactic battleship. The same one Shiro, Lance, Keith, Pidge and Hunk fought, and the same one Allura and Coran had battled, and were very familiar with.

A Galra ship. 

“A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” Coran exclaimed. 

“How did they find us?” Allura questioned, a mixture of panic and absolute confusion in her voice. They literally just woke up and already the Galra were already on their heels!

She was expecting some kind of response from Coran, but instead she got one from Lance, the boy with the ugly ears (to be fair, all their ears looked quite horrendous).

“I'm not sure, but I bet it's Keith’s fault,” he stated, crossing his arms and sending Keith a pointed glare.

Keith put one arm sassily on his hip, pointed his nose up, and returned Lance’s cool glower. Keith didn't know what his problem was, but if he wanted to play this game, then so help it, he will play too.

“Say whatever you have to say to make yourself feel better,” Keith started. “After getting us stuck, on the other side of a wormhole!”

Lance’s nostrils flared with rage. Hey! He did good piloting out there! Could Keith do any better! No, no, no, there was a reason why he was the one flying the Blue Lion! He's a good pilot no matter what Keith was like in his early days! So Keith could go… could go…

“I'll stick you in a wormhole!” Lance shouted, squaring up right in front of Keith’s face. He realised he had never been so close to another person’s face before (excluding his first kiss with some random girl in third grade). He hoped to God he looked intimidating and not stupid.

But Keith didn't move a muscle. He just narrowed his eyes and shot Lance a resistant and venomous glare.

Sensing a fight, Shiro should probably step in before things got too out of hand. Seriously, this was no time to argue about small, unnecessary things.

“Stow it, cadets. This is no time to place blame,” he said sternly, pushing Lance back since he judged that Keith would listen to him better. Lance lifted his hands up in a ‘I'm chill! Are you?’ position, but his scrunched up face said otherwise. “It's time to work as a team. How long before they arrive?”

“At their speed?” Coran asked as he held his fingers up and immediately started to calculate. “Oh, well, carry the two… I'd say probably a couple of days.”

“Good,” Allura said determinedly, a more controlled fire sparking up in her again. “Let them come! By the time they get here you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon’s empire!”

That's when Hunk burped extremely loudly whilst licking his fingers for any remnants of the food goo. 

“Sorry. Food goo,” he informed, grinning sheepishly. His stomach rumbled disturbingly and Pidge looked incredibly threatened.

“Princess,” Shiro said, ignoring Hunk, “there are five lions, how are we going to find the rest?”

Allura, Coran and the mice shared a solemn look. It had been 10,000 years, but alas, it was time to put a stop to Zarkon’s treachery.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

There were stars in the room. Stars floating about everywhere. They were holographic, but nevertheless, they still gave off the same sort of energy one might have when looking at a close-up of the stars. 

But Pidge always saw the bigger picture. He was intelligent and resourceful, and although he could admit the stars were an amazing sight, he didn't let himself be fooled by them (like Lance was right now, judging by his amazed and sparkly-eyed expression). Pidge knew they weren't just stars and planets, for instance. That's what truly amazed him.

“These are coordinates,” he mentioned, staring at the tiny dots of blue technology. Around came a holographic image of the blue and black lion which seemed to be coming from the same planet. The same planet they were on.

“The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion,” he added on.

This earned a very unusual compliment from Coran.

“Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage!” He exclaimed, fondly.

Allura smiled.

“Very observant,” she nodded. “That's because the Black Lion is in the castle.” 

“To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon’s hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle,” Coran explained. “It can only be freed if the other four lions are present.” 

“As you have found, the four lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain.”

Allura turned towards Shiro expectantly, as the hologram of the Black Lion started floating towards him. “The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone who's men will follow without hesitation.”

Shiro stared at the hologram of the Black Lion, and immediately got Allura’s point, and what job he had to carry on for the greater good. Looking back to when he was just a well-known pilot back at the Garrison, he would of never expected to get this far. This was something far more bigger than himself, but he had to be brave. He didn't have a choice.

“That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion.”

Allura’s gaze changed, and so did the holograms all around her (except the Black Lion, who stayed in front of their future pilot). She wasn't focusing on Shiro anymore.

“The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality, and needs a pilot of intellect and daring,” she went on, as the hologram of the Green Lion (who happened to be smaller than the rest) floated over to Pidge. “Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion.”

Pidge gazed at the hologram with wide eyes. He would accept it, but selfishly so. He knew that accepting this destiny, there would be no going back, and it would be incredibly dangerous. He had to defend the universe, for the love of god! But, he knew this was probably the most likeliest way he was going to investigate what happened to the Holt family on the Kerberos Mission. He had to find out. He wouldn't stop until he found Matthew and Sam. 

He smiled at the thought of it.

“The Blue Lion--” 

“Wait, hold up, let me guess,” Lance interrupted, and flashed a charming grin her way. “Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?”

Allura glared and wondered how and why the Blue Lion had chosen him of all people.

“The Yellow Lion,” she continued, completely dropping the topic on the Blue Lion’s pilot, “is caring and kind. It's pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty.” 

The Yellow Lion floated towards Hunk.

“As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together.” 

Hunk looked around him, thinking there was some sort of mistake. As soon as he found out that he was one of the chosen pilots, he began to worry. Was this lady absolutely sure she wanted him to be one of the greatest heroes of the universe. For starters, he was such a coward! He can't even look Commander Iverson in the eye without wanting to pee himself, let alone verse a sinister, galactic empire! And how was he supposed to pilot if he kept throwing up? Oh, he was so screwed.

“The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. It's pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instinct than skill alone.” 

The Red Lion appeared out of nowhere in Allura’s hands, and made its way towards Keith, who had his arms crossed and was intently listening to everything she had to say.

“Keith, you will fly the Red Lion.”

Keith’s first reaction was a satisfied smile, because even though he'd never admit it, part of him really missed being up in the air. But, of course, Lance ruined his happy thoughts.

“What? This guy?” Lance (who had been standing next to him the whole time) sighed in exasperation and disbelief, like he couldn't imagine Keith doing a good deed, let alone working with them.

Keith glared, because for once, the idiot was right. For one, Keith was never a team player. He never belonged anywhere, and he doubted he would belong here too. He always acted out solo, and didn't listen to anybody. There was his commitment issues, that mostly came from his deep fear of rejection, and to save himself the pain, he always left before people could abandon him. So how was he going to master an unstable lion, work with people whom he mostly just met, and save the universe? He was no hero.

“Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion’s coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it might need some work.” 

“Don't worry,” Coran assured, “we’ll find it soon. They don't call me ‘The Coranic’ for nothing.” He paused. “That's because it sounds like mechanic. So… Coranic, mechanic. It's not-- it doesn't sound… exactly like it. It's similar,” he said, twisting his moustache and straightening his uniform.

Suddenly, the Red Lion roared, and started to make its way to the midpoint of the holograms, up and up. The other lions joined it, and Allura went on with her explanation.

“Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe.”

Sure enough, the mighty robot of Voltron stood above them all, everything else disappearing to focus on the huge fighter that stood in a superior pose, reaching right up to the ceiling. The hologram dissolved and left the team marvelling at it.

“Awesome!” Hunk exclaimed.

“Oh…” Pidge awed, for once not knowing what to think.

“Wait,” Hunk said, snapping out of his daze to get to what was bothering him. “Okay, we’re going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?” 

“We don't have much time,” Shiro answered, saving Hunk and the Alteans the embarrassment of the last question. “Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion.” Pidge didn't argue, though he did seem hesitant. Hunk held his stomach sorrowfully. “Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one.” Lance smiled with triumph, like he knew exactly how to succeed. “Keith,” Shiro said, puting a gentle hand on the boy’s shoulder, “you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it.” 

“In the meantime, I'll get this castle’s defences ready. It will be sorely needed,” Allura added.

“I'll ready a pod and load the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion,” Coran added.

Shiro smiled. They had a plan.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

The pod and the Blue Lion had parted ways. They were flying to two totally different places now, but both had similar objectives. Locate the lion, and bring it back. Pretty straightforward, right?

Allura knew it wouldn't be so easy.

She returned to the control panel, concentrated, and opened a wormhole for both pod and lion.

“We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work,” Coran explained, talking through the intercom to the others. “The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, there could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Enjoy the trip!”

The others panicked.

“Wait, what?” Lance stuttered, his lion already halfway through the wormhole.

“No, no,” Shiro murmured uncertainly, his pod also too late to turn back.

“I did not receive the memo on this,” Hunk pointed out before everyone disappeared.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Shiro and Pidge had arrived at a green and wild planet that looked like just a planet of one, large rainforest. The trees and bushes around them had no boundaries, and grew freely. The luscious plants grew in a way they could never back at Earth, where litter and pollution plagued their planet. Unfortunately, they had a job to do, and couldn't admire the planet as much as they would have. 

The tracker beeped in Pidge’s hand, as it led the two boys to a gorgeous river of natural green and blue, sparkling in the sunlight.

“Look,” Pidge pointed out, pointing to a makeshift, wooden canoe, equipt with a paddle and what looked like a carved lion head at the front of it. 

Pidge and Shiro looked around and saw some sort of sloth standing on its front two legs, and smiling at them like they were good friends. Pidge gasped and jumped behind a bewildered Shiro, clinging to his back. They stared at the sloth with fright and curiosity.

The sloth purred back at them.

“It's just a…” Pidge started, but his words died in his mouth once he realised he had no idea what it was, “whatever that thing is.”

The sloth started to walk towards the boat. Pidge jumped off Shiro's back and the two boys watched the sloth with wonder, like they had no idea what to make of this thing. The sloth beckoned them forwards, trying to indicate that it meant no harm.

“I…” Pidge started, with absolute disbelief, “I think he wants us to get in his canoe.”

“Then I guess we should go,” Shiro shrugged.

“Huh,” Pidge said, shooting him a weird glance.

“I've been locked up by aliens for a year. This is nothing,” Shiro pointed out, grinning. 

He started following the sloth, so Pidge followed him too. What harm could it do anyways?

Next they knew they were in the water, surrounded by the whole naturalness of the land. Everything about this planet was so surreal, Pidge could hardly imagine why the Galra empire would ever want to destroy something like this. Pidge’s favourite part of the ride was when what looked like a cross between a caterpillar and a rabbit came to the shore to squeak and dance for them. Pidge chuckled.

They were entering a cave now, one covered with the same lion hieroglyphics and markings as the one back at Earth. Except this one told the story of what looked like a Green Lion.

Pidge was really enjoying this. It was exhilarating exploring new planets like this, he wondered if he would do more of it once he was the pilot of the Green Lion. He couldn't help think about his two other best friends. He wanted to share this with them too, and he hoped one day he would get to do that.

“I wonder if Hunk and Lance are having a good as time as us.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“AHHHHHHH!” Lance screamed in fright as the lion was sent into a full scaled somersault to save their lives.

“Oh no, no, no, no!” Hunk choked out as he tried to barf, but was too scared to (if that was possible).

Two Galra pods were on their tails shooting blasts of sudden death towards the two teenagers, who were maneuvering this way and that to avoid them. 

Their terrified shrieking got louder once the Galras released missiles that made the dodging harder for them. Lance did his best, trying to get out of their way, but he was still new to this and the last missile hit the lion directly, sending it spiralling down to the ground.

“I thought Coran said these planets were peaceful!” Hunk yelled. 

“Maybe ‘peaceful’ means something else in Altean!” Lance shouted back, unable to keep the salt out of his words.

He reared up, and the lion managed to balance itself before hitting the ground. The Galras had no mercy, and continued to shoot at them.

They approached a sort of camp, where more Galra soldiers were located, equipt with armour, tools and guns. They shot up at them and the lion veered up.

“According to the coordinates, we’re right on top of the Yellow Lion,” Hunk stated, straightening up. “It's below there where they're mining for the ore. They don't even know the lion is there. Or maybe they just got here and they're digging for the lion? What do you think Lance?”

“Who cares? Just go get it!” Lance exclaimed, stressed out. “I'm dropping you down there.”

“Me? Down there? No. No, no, no.” 

“Yes, I'll cover you!”

Lance steered the lion towards the grounds, smashing a few soldiers in retaliation to minimise the blasts. It was time Hunk manned up, he thought bitterly. 

“What if the Yellow Lion doesn't work? What if I can't get in the mine?” Hunk rambled, doing his trademark worrying again. “What if I start crying? Too late I'm already crying!” Tears strolled down his face, because Hunk was certain he was going to die.

“Sorry, no time for questions,” Lance answered, then to basically drop Hunk out of the Blue Lion’s mouth, and send him sprawling in the hard surface of the ground.

Galras started to approach, and Lance turned the lion around to buy Hunk some time. Truth was, Lance was scared and had no idea what he was doing. He didn't know how long he could hold these guys, or how much backup was coming as they speak. He didn't know if Hunk would even get to the lion. What if he dropped the tracker on his way down? What if he rolled up into a ball and started crying? No. He had to push those thoughts out of his head. He couldn't doubt his best friend now. Hunk had to do this. Lance knew he would.

Hunk, on the other hand, did not have the same feelings as Lance. He fumed curses at the him as he stumbled over to the makeshift lift of the mines, and opened the control panel, getting to work.

“Yeah, sure, just drop me off at an alien planet. That's cool man,” Hunk muttered darkly, and wondered why he was still friends with that jerk. “It's only occupied by mean purple aliens that want to kill me, but whatever. Just ignore them and go connect with a big, yellow, mechanical cat. Easy-peasy. Yeah. That all makes sense to me.”

He got it working, and slowly, the sounds of the battle drowned out as Hunk started to descend into the cave filled of the same but different markings back at the Blue Lion cave. They glowed yellow, and Hunk couldn't help but letting out a low “cool” when glancing at the view.

He made it to the bottom, which appeared to be some sort of chamber. The cave shook with one of the blasts from above, and Hunk was reminded that his time was limited.

“Okay, I'm in a giant hole. Now what, Hunk?” He asked himself.

As if reading his mind, a carving he was standing on glowed bright yellow. He watched in wonder as the carvings on the floor started to glow, leading him to a spot on the cave wall, where a carving that looked like some sort of target started to shine.

“Whoa. Pretty. How am I gonna get through that?” 

He looked around, thinking. He turned around and saw a massive driller. Just what he needed… 

Meanwhile, Lance was fighting for his life. He took a straight hit and his lion staggered. He looked up and saw backup was approaching. He grit his teeth and propelled upwards,advancing on the enemy, shooting blasts out of his tail as best he could. He managed to catch one between the jaws, and rip it apart, only to realise that more ships had approached behind him, and had started to ignore him and advance towards the mine.

“Oh no,” he let out, grunting as he shot towards the mine.

He gave it everything he got, firing blasts left and right, trying to get the fighter ships away from the mine, but one managed to release a missile just in time.

“Hunk!” Lance screamed.

But it was too late. It fired straight into the cave, and blowed it all up from the inside.

No, no, no. Lance thought. No he can't be dead. This was all my fault. No.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“I know the Princess said this is supposed to be my lion but what if she's wrong?” Pidge asked, rambling to no one in particular. “She's probably not wrong. She's a princess, but I'm not a pilot. Even though I've always wanted to be a pilot. I read all the fighter manuals, but never got to fly the simulator. But hey, I can't be that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time.” 

The sloth looked over at Shiro questioningly, but Shiro grinned sheepishly and shrugged, as if to say ‘y’know how kids are.’

“What if I get in there and it doesn't respond?” Pidge rambled on. “What if I get in there and it's too big and my feet don't touch the pedals? What if there aren't even pedals?!”

“You're rambling. Listen…” Shiro said in that wise, calming voice of his that made Pidge deflate, but still frown moodily, “Our commander of the Kerberos Mission is the smartest man I ever met, and he always said, ‘If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.’”

Pidge smiled sadly at that. He knew that quote. He heard it many times.

His thoughts on it were dashed when they came across a pyramid of stone, overrun by moss and wild vines that grew all over it.

The sloth’s canoe hit the beach, indicating that this was their stop. Pidge and Shiro got off, waved to the sloth in thanks and farewell (the sloth waved back), and made their way over. As they approached, the carvings around the pyramid started to glow bright green. They approached the foot of the large staircase that led to the overgrown, top of the pyramid.

“Go,” Shiro said, turning to Pidge and grinning with pride. “Be great.”

Pidge beamed back and started to run up the staircase with a newfound adrenaline. He kept on climbing, up the stairs and over the large, fat, wild roots that covered the pyramid altogether, all the while thinking of his family. His beautiful, loving family. 

When he reached the top, he doubled over, panting for air and completely exhausted. Once he regained his breath, he looked around in confusion. There was nothing there. Where was it?

He stood up, and that's when he heard it. The low, growling noise coming from beneath him. The object beneath the vines and stone glowed incredibly brightly through the small gap, and Pidge smiled in knowing.

He jumped down with a whoop of “whoo-hoo-hoo!” 

When Shiro heard the lion’s roar it made him jump in alarm. He glanced at the pyramid before him, and it exploded with colour, creating a blinding opening for the one, iconic Green Lion to emerge from.

Shiro smiled softly. Pidge did it. Two lions down, three more to go.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“Hunk, come on! Please, buddy!” Lance pleaded into the intercom, praying to god he didn't lose his best friend.

Unfortunately, Lance’s unfocus resulted in a direct hit from the Galras. Lance lurched forward in his seat, grunting by the force. He turned the lion around to aim, but there was too many of them. He took shots left, right and centre, and that did not reciprocate well with the lion.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” Lance fumed, as the lion propelled towards the ground. “Going down! We’re going down!”

The lion hit the ground with full impact, rolling itself into the base of a cliff, where it staggered to get up on all fours. Electricity crackled around it, indicating how damaged it was, and that it needed time to regenerate. But they didn't have time. 

Lance felt sick and queasy, the blaring alarm and the flashing red of the room not helping him at all. The lion was too weak to do anything. It could hardly move about, let alone fly, dodge and shoot at the same time.

Lance looked up and saw more approaching Galra ships. 

“Oh no,” he murmured, hopelessly.

This was it. This is how he would die. It wasn’t fair. He still had so much to live up to. So much he hadn't done yet. Heck, he had only just started to make his mark! And now, he was getting robbed of it. He was just another insignificant causality… 

It happened in slow motion. The ground exploded in front of him. A huge, yellow lion, which was just a little bigger than his, emerged from underneath, its huge eyes gleaming at him. The missiles crashed into the Yellow Lion, and then the lion jumped right into business like what it had endured was nothing.

The lion ran towards the ships, leaping into the air and landing right on top of them, destroying three ships in one huge explosion. The lion emerged out of the leftover debris without a scratch on it.

“You okay, Lance?” Lance heard Hunk’s voice ask through the intercom.

“Hunk!” Lance exclaimed, trying not to cry of relief and gratitude. “I thought you were dead! You jumped in front of those shots to save my life!”

Hunk’s face then popped up on Lance’s screen, showing the exact same control room around him, but yellow-based.

“Actually, I was trying to get out of the way,” Hunk admitted sheepishly, but Lance was too relieved to really care. “Thankfully, for what this thing lacks in speed, it makes up for in armour. Man, can it take a beating!”

Lance and Hunk then turned around to behold the sight of more Galran ships that started to advance on them.

“We've got incoming!” Hunk announced.

“Paladins!” Allura shouted right after, appearing on their screens. “Please hurry back. I can't hold the wormhole much longer.”

Thank god we have the lions, Lance thought to himself.

“Let's get out of here!” Lance grinned.

The two boys pulled their lions up, heading straight to the wormhole above them. Unfortunately, Hunk’s lion wasn't as fast as Lance, and even though it could endure more, the multiple shots from the Galran ships sent it flailing, spinning and spinning.

“Oh no,” Hunk gasped, reaching a hand up to his mouth so he didn't throw up. “Not this again.”

“Quit screwing around, Hunk!” Lance scolded, trying to get him to go faster. This was their chance for safety, they had to make it. “The wormhole is closing.”

Thankfully, Lance and Hunk made it just in time, getting dragged in, and the wormhole closing just after.

They had succeeded in their first mission.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Lance and Hunk both groaned, rubbing their backs in discomfort as they entered the castle, obviously stressed from their previous mission. Man, their jobs had just begun as paladins and it was already hard work.

“You made it!” Allura exclaimed, clamping her hands together in joy.

“Yeah, just barely,” Lance complained, flexing his stiff arm. “That was a nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!”

“Think how I felt,” Hunk cut in. “I am Hunk.”

“Yeah,” Pidge added, feeling the need to give something about him and Shiro’s time. He turned to flash a cheeky grin at him. “We had a tough time too.”

Shiro returned it.

“Did we find the Red Lion yet?” He asked.

“Allura just located it,” Coran explained. “There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion’s nearby. The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But good news again, we’re Arus.” 

Coran through his hands in the air to brighten the mood, but the team was in horror. Hunk looked just about ready to pass out.

“They're here already?” Shiro queried, urgently.

“Yes,” Coran confirmed. “Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting-- It's more of an art than a science.”

Before the team could fully process the information they were just given, the huge, holographic screen behind him started to glitch with static. An intimidating Galra was then present on the screen before them, with large ears, purple facial hair and one cyber, right eye.

“Princess Allura,” he started, his voice showing no signs of threat and adopting a demanding tone, “this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire.”

The team collectively gasped, a mixture of shock, determination and absolute fear coursing through them.

“I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet.”

They were here. The war was beginning, and the team was not prepared. They couldn't form Voltron, and still had two more lions to retrieve. There were two Alteans, last of the dying species and only just woke up after 10,000 years of slumber. Then there was team Voltron itself. The lost hero who was left with blank memories for the past two years on this race he was expected to defeat with the team he led into battle. The coward who couldn't even hold his vomit down his throat when in the air, judging from the past day. The pompous teenager who would rather be picking up hot girls for him to flatter though his heart was never truly in it, no matter how much he tried to convince himself that that was his place. The impulsive nerd who hid so many deep and conflicting secrets from his best friends and the world for his own cause. And the misunderstood boy with discipline issues so bad, not even the Garrison could control him.

How were they expected to succeed?

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Finally done this piece! I never knew how much time it took up to do just 22 minutes of novelising (is that a word?), as well as trying to make this interesting!
> 
> Again, hope I did good with this. I struggled a bit in describing settings and different aliens, but I didn't want to spend too much time describing pointless stuff. 
> 
> I left out a few scenes that were unimportant, like the part where Zarkon is telling Sendak to capture the lions, because Coran and Allura get alerted that the Galra are coming for them later, and the rest was pretty irrelevant. 
> 
> I was also going to keep it to just Shiro, Keith, Pidge, Lance and Hunk’s POV mostly, but I felt adding in Allura’s POV was important too. Because she lost her whole planet and people and family and basically everything! That had to be absolutely devastating for her. Obviously, Coran went through tough times too, but Allura does *cough cough* play a big part *cough* later in the series. So I thought adding her in was quite significant.
> 
> Anyways, off to start the rest of episode 1! God, this will take me forever lmao
> 
> Thanks for reading,  
> Yanna


	3. S1E1: "The Rise of Voltron" Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crew has many things to do all at once. Keith needs to track down the Red Lion. Pidge needs to find the missing Kerberos crew members. Shiro has to learn about the memories he's missing. Lance has to carry the weight of being a true soldier. Allura has to work with inexperienced pilots in order to restore peace. Hunk is just trying not to throw up or break down. All the while, evil Commander Sendak has other plans for them.

The crew froze in horror as the screen disappeared, along with the figment of Commander Sendak. No one knew what to do in that moment, and all words abandoned them. All except Shiro.

“All right, let's not panic,” he reassured.

“Not panic?” Hunk blurted, his chest moving up and down in quick breaths to show that he definitely was panicking. “The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four lions--”

“Technically, only three working lions,” Pidge corrected, unhelpfully.

“That's right. Thank you, Pidge,” Hunk stated lamely, patting the small boy’s shoulder. “Three working lions and a castle that's, like, 10,000 years old.”

“Actually,” Coran jutted in, “it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather--”

“Thanks, Coran,” Hunk interrupted, putting a finger over Coran’s mouth to shut him up before he went on rambling about some irrelevant alien history. “Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!”

“Wait!” Allura exclaimed, a thought coming to her before Hunk spread his appropriate feelings throughout the team. “This castle has a particle barrier we can activate.”

Lance grinned mischievously. At times like this, it was always good to lighten the mood with some dirty talk.

“Girl you already activated my par--”

“Lance!” Shiro warned, narrowing his eyes.

The castle brought up a diagram of Sendak’s battleship, although in the centre of the ship there seemed to be a large canon, which was in red. Details in Altean were brought up before them, as Coran explained what the problem was:

“The particle barrier won't hold Sendak’s ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last.”

“Panic now?” Hunk asked, glancing to Shiro for permission for having an emotional breakdown.

“No,” Shiro responded immediately as Hunk deflated a bit. “We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly.” 

“I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day,” Lance offered. 

“I second that,” Hunk added with enthusiasm as Lance smiled softly his way. “Yes. We tried to find all the lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I guess we can form a snake? Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about.”

Lance imagined all the lions joined at the tails, which looked quite stupid to him, so he no doubted it would look terribly amusing to the Galra Empire, but it was clear that Hunk was on the verge of breaking down, and was getting quite desperate. 

Whatever, he thought pushing Hunk aside and making his way over to the princess. As long as we get out of here. 

“Then it's settled. Allura you ride with me” he announced, cocking his head to the side and flashing her a charming grin. It would be another plus if they survive and he gets to spend quality time with this pretty girl. “One of you take the old guy,” he stated blandly, as Coran seethed Altean curse words under his breath.

“We can't just abandon Arus,” Pidge pointed out, horrified that his best mates would ever offer such an idea. “The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them.”

“Okay,” Hunk breathed out, desperate to come to some agreement and quite aware that time was running out. “If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we--” he then made a terrible hissing noise as his hand clasped together and wiggled about to represent this ‘snake-worm thingamajig’-- “out of here.”

“Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway,” Keith (who had been pretty quiet up until this moment) pointed out, dashing Hunk’s dreams at negotiating. “Staying is our only option.”

For some reason, Keith’s serious, passionate and sensible tone ticked Lance off, and so naturally, he needed him to shut up.

“Here's an option: shut your quiznak!” Lance exclaimed bluntly, motioning his fingers in a ‘zipping’ action while the other Alteans behind him gasped at his foul mouth. 

“I don't think you're using that word correctly,” Keith spat, glaring at the immature guy in front of him. 

“What do you know, Mullet?” Lance asked, incredulously taking a daring step closer.

“We're staying!” Keith exclaimed, taking another step closer so him and Lance were face-to-face again.

“Leaving!” Lance shouted back.

“Staying!” Pidge exclaimed, backing Keith up.

“Snake!” Hunk yelled in his panicked state.

“Guys, stop!” Shiro boomed above them with authority. The team stepped away, equally divided, Keith and Lance shooting daggers at each other, Pidge and Hunk glaring at one another moodily. It was no good. For these kids to settle down, Shiro needed help. “Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better then any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?”

“I…” Allura started, her face one of surprise. She looked down shamefully and admitted, “I… I don't know.”

“Perhaps your father can help,” Coran offered, gently.

Allura turned slowly to Coran, hope and confusion spreading across her stricken face. “My father?”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

A dark, empty room. A dark, empty room that was holding secrets Allura had yet to know of. She took a tentative step inside surveying it. There was a platform located in the middle of it, holding another computer like the one in the control room, yet more simpler (only a blue, glowing orb floated above it), but other than that, nothing impressive so far.

“Coran, what is this?”

“King Alfor knew there was a chance he might never see you again,” he answered. “So, his memories, his very being, were stored in this computer for you.”

Allura paced slowly over to the computer, and reached out to the orb. It floated higher, and then exploded, spreading throughout the room. As it spread, a field of magenta flowers and vibrant, green grass bloomed around her. Mountains revealed themselves in the distance, and their sun shone brightly like nothing Allura had felt in a very long time. The sky was a brilliant light turquoise colour, and Allura couldn't help but spin around to take all of it in. This place was so familiar to her. This place was home. This place was Altea.

Suddenly, waking her out of her daze, she heard a mechanical beeping sound behind her. She turned around to see the same computer that activated her surroundings. It was whirring as a holographic firm started to take place. As it did, Allura’s eyes watered with joy. She knew who this was before he even appeared.

“Father!” She exclaimed, jogging up to the hologram. She was trying not to break down, because now was no time for it, even if she really, really wished he wasn't a hologram. She missed him very much. “Father, it is so good to see you.”

“Allura, my only child, how I've missed your face,” King Alfor announced with emotion, his voice booming with the same posh tone as she.

Allura looked down with shame as she realised why she came in the first place. “I'm so frightened,” she admitted. Her legs shook horribly, so she decided to take a seat on the floor. “A Galra ship is set to attack, and I don't know what to do. Please, Father, I need your help.”

“I would do anything to take this burden from you.”

“I don't know if we should run to preserve what we have or stay and risk everything,” Allura confessed, leaning her head against the computer from which her father was being presented from. Allura wondered what the team was doing now. Were they arguing? Coming up with a plan? Sitting in silence and waiting her orders? How can she call herself a Princess if she was hopeless in tough situations? “I want to fight, but the paladins of old are gone. I know what you would do.”

“I scattered the Lions of Voltron to keep them out of Zarkon’s hands,” King Alfor recounted. “You urged me to keep them and fight, but, for the greater good of protecting the universe, I chose to hide them.”

Allura was sent again to that dreadful night. She might've been hopeful then, but she knew, deep down, that they were losing the fight astoundedly. If she was in her father's shoes at that time, maybe she would've also sent the lions away as well. Still, with the knowledge of what would result after, would she? “I think I understand,” Allura lied. Maybe escaping was their only choice… 

“No, daughter, you were right,” her father insisted. Allura looked up in shock. “I made a terrible mistake, one that cost the universe countless lives. Forming Voltron is the only way to stop Zarkon. You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the lions and correct my error.”

Allura’s eyes shone as she realised something dire. She liked this plan much better than the previous one.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“You five paladins were brought here for a reason,” Allura declared, stepping back out before the team. She tied her long hair into a bun, and she now wore a full, body-suit armour of white, with a little pink and purple coloured in the joints. Very Altean. Her demeanour had changed too. It wasn't indecisive, lost and childish, it was strong, purposeful and aware. 

The team was taken aback, but not as much as Hunk, who was gaping. He was wondering how she could get a complete makeover in such little/stressful time. When he realised his rude expression, he quickly changed it to a forced blank one.

“The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone,” Allura went on. “We must fight, and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe’s only hope.” She took a pause to stare at each paladin with an intense yet meaningful stare. “We are the universe’s only hope.”

The leader, Shiro, adopted the same passionate expression Allura wore. He understood her. Unlike the others, only he and the Alteans had felt the real wrath of Zarkon, and only they had a taste of what was to be in store. But they also knew that they couldn't leave the universe like this. If they were to do so, it would be the death of them all.

“We’re with you, Princess,” he confirmed.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Each tube lighted up with different coloured, full body-suited armour. Each was black, white, and said colour for said paladin. Even though the armour did not have a mannequin, they still seemed to be upright in a formal yet powerful-looking stance. They were provided with helmets too, and matched the same sort of pattern Allura’s costume had, except more colourful. On each chestplate was a sort of V-shaped logo, in the colour of the paladin it belonged to. It probably stood for ‘Voltron’.

“Your suits of armour,” Allura stated proudly, sensing the others amazement.

Pidge, Lance, Keith and Shiro were delighted as they stepped up to the tubes to examine what was before them. They even muttered each a soft but positive comment (“cool”,“nice”, “outstanding”, “oh, neat!”). Hunk was a little more hesitant as he approached the weird armour. He took one look at the size the thing was and cringed. How could he fit in that? It was tiny compared to his ‘curvy’ bod!

“Hmm,” he murmured, estimating the size of the waist with his hands, and then comparing it to his waist size. “Mmm…” he said as he realised that he was twice the size of it, and sighed unhappily. “Hmm.”

He might have a problem.

“Princess, are you sure about this?” Coran queried quietly, twirling his moustache and observing the dumbfounded paladins. “They aren't exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer.”

“No,” Allura confirmed, “but they're all we've got.”

And she meant it.

“Boys,” Shiro announced, addressing the whole team, “it's time to suit up!”

They all seemed delighted by Shiro’s orders (except Hunk). So in no time, as a blue hand clasped into a fist for right measure, a green belt clicked in place, a red chestplate throw on and a black helmet was put over the head of Voltron’s leader, everyone had finally got dressed (turns out putting on the yellow uniform wasn't nearly as a problem as Hunk suspected it would be. The material was quite flexible when needed).

“The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron,” Allura explained soon after. She went to one of the glass table tops, and with a touch of her hand, the glass removed and four ‘bayards’ (which looked like a basic handles to hold that glowed and apparently floated) were revealed. One blue, one green, one yellow and the other red.

“It takes a distinct shape for each paladin,” Allura continued as the bayards flew towards their designated paladin. 

Hunk reached out to the yellow one in hesitance but slight temptation. As soon as he gripped it, the yellow bayard transformed into a massive but heavy machine gun. He groaned and hoisted it up, but then got to examine it. He grinned, obviously happy with what he got. It wasn't too light, wasn't too over-the-top, and the size of it all was just perfect for him. Most weapons back at the Garrison were too small for Hunk due to his big hand size, so Hunk had always rather stick to the ‘engineering’ part of it all, rather than the ‘soldier’ part (also the fact that Hunk was really not a fighter). But this weapon was different in more ways than one. It just made it feel… so… right.

Keith grabbed onto his, and it transformed into a long sword. His other arm was activated into a shield. He didn't know what to really make of all of it, but he knew it would suit him far better than a gun or anything else. Getting in close worked far better for him than fighting from far away. He had always been impulsive, so he figured a sword like this would be best. He weighed the sword testingly, and noted that it was the exact right weight, and the shield could be activated and deactivated whenever he wanted. This was good. He knew he felt some sort of power holding his activated bayard, and he figured it was because of him being a paladin, but he couldn't help but think, maybe this bayard decided to take the form of a blade because of what his mother left him. Could the two be of the same reason, or did he just have a thing for knives?

Lance gripped his, and when his bayard took the form it did, he couldn't help but let out a jubilant laugh. A gun! It wasn't like Hunk’s gun, it was smaller, and much lighter. He held it in position, and as he looked through the aiming piece, he realised this could also be a sniper! Damn, this was so cool! Lance bet he would look charming too! Oh, the ladies were gonna fall for him! He was going to show everyone that he was a capable, powerful soldier, and not some immature, whiny boy! He was a paladin, and this was his awesome weapon, and he was going to defeat tonnes of alien bad guys, and everyone will love him! The confidence Lance was feeling was over-the-moon, and he felt like he could do anything. “Whoo!”

Pidge’s bayard just transformed into itself, but with a razor sharp edge, that was glowing electric green. It was small and light, and it didn't look like much, but Pidge seemed to know it had potential. It kind of reminded him of himself, and he couldn't wait to use it. He tested it out, trying to determine how light it was, and found it incredibly easy to lift and swing about with no trouble. He didn't know why he took such immediate liking to it. Maybe it was because it was his first time holding a weapon who was actually designed to fit his liking, or maybe it was the thrill of the job ahead of him. Maybe it was because he knew this weapon was his and no one else's (he could use it on personal quests as well), or maybe it was simply because a paladin was meant to connect with their bayard. He knew it would get the job done.

Lance seemed to take notice of Pidge’s smaller weapon, and immediately underestimated its power.

“Aw,” he sneered as Pidge’s face scrunched up, predicting Lance’s teasing. “You got a cute little bayard.”

Pidge suddenly jammed his bayard right into Lance’s rib cage. Lance let out a high-pitched shriek as he got electrocuted from it. 

“Yeah, it is pretty cute,” Pidge smirked, holding it up victoriously.

“Shiro,” Allura addressed, looking up at him sympathetically, “I'm afraid your bayard was lost with its paladin.”

“I guess I'll just have to make do,” Shiro shrugged, smiling sheepishly at her.

They made their way back to the control room, and Allura brought up the diagram of the Galra ship that was soon to be upon them. Allura somehow managed to miraculously find the location to the Red Lion, however, said location was pretty unfortunate.

“You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak’s ship,” she declared.

“That's a pretty big ship,” Keith responded doubtfully. “How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?”

“It's not a matter of ‘we’,” Pidge answered for her, looking up at Keith. “It's a matter of ‘you’.”

“Pidge is right,” Hunk stated, grinning excitedly at the red paladin. “Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and track it down.”

“Yeah,” Lance jutted in, wanting to take part in the conversation. He grinned and crossed his arms at the guy next to him. “You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?”

“Yeah,” Keith answered, bluntly. “You made fun of me for that.”

“And I'm proud of that,” Lance stated, because he found absolute joy in just ticking Keith off for no particular reason, “but turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo.”

“Keith,” Allura said, “remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental. You'll have to earn its respect.” 

Just great, Keith thought. How was he going to do that? Earning respect was not one of his strong suits, but he'd have to find a way. He was the red paladin, right?

“All right,” Shiro confirmed, placing a reassuring hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Here's our plan of attack.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Lance had his doubts. If it was anything like last time, it was going to be difficult. He thought he was going to die! And now they were up against a whole Galra battleship, which he bet would be harder, since they were also protecting the Red Lion. However, even though he had only known Shiro for less than 24 hours, he did trust him. He sounded like he knew what he was doing. So did the Alteans. All he and Hunk had to do was follow the instructions Shiro told them.

“The Galra empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion,” Lance remembered Shiro telling them as he flew up towards the Galra battleship, Hunk by his side. “But they don't know we have the Green Lion too. Hunk, Lance, you'll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up.” 

Now was the time.

“Attention, Galra ship,” Lance announced, broadcasting his voice to the intimidating alien Commander within. “Do not fire. We're surrendering our lions.”

They approached a great doorway, that was shut tightly. They assumed it was where they were to drop off the lions, and the Galra ship didn't intervene so they were probably right.

“I hope this works,” he murmured to no one in particular.

Lance tried to remember the rest of what Shiro had instructed Hunk and him to do.

“While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge and I will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion,” he had said. “Keith and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit.”

Lance assumed they were already up to that stage. He also knew Hunk and him weren't just going to act as decoys.

“Hunk, Lance,” Shiro had told them, looking at them as if they were so important to this mission (Lance knew they were, but it still felt good, because he felt he was proving himself worthy, especially if Takashi Shirogane was giving him that look). “Find some way to take down that ion cannon.”

The doors in front of them suddenly opened, showing darkness beyond, and Lance felt as if he should calm the uneasiness in his stomach by talking to someone. It was his first mission after all, and of course he wouldn't start to sulk or complain about his fear, he had too much of a big pride. He immediately canceled out Keith, who was the one person he was trying not to let see how much insecurity he really had (he had a reputation!). He also crossed out Shiro and the Alteans. Let them still think he was a heroic paladin with no faults while they can. He was about to talk to Hunk, predicting he was about as nervous as he was, and maybe they could cry about this together. He decided not to, thinking Hunk would make him feel worse, and he needed someone to calm him right now. That left one person… 

“Pidge, what's your ETA?”

Pidge was good at making Lance think rationally again. He had that kind of effect on people. Plus, Lance was worried about him. More than he'd like to admit. Pidge was still one of his best friends, and ever since rescuing Shiro, Pidge seemed a little out of it. Maybe a bit too determined to become a paladin. Sure, Lance could tell he was nervous (they all were), but he still thought Pidge would of felt more hesitant to just go along with this. It seemed out of the ordinary that the same guy who was yelling at Lance to not take any promising risks in the simulation was rolling right along with this whole ‘defending the universe with allies and enemies we didn't know existed until this recent 24 hours’. He was too distant, too obedient, and it was weirding him out. 

There was a pause and Lance immediately began to overthink it.

“We’re in,” came the voice on the other side of his intercom.

But just as Lance was about to answer, the doors in front of the two lions started to form a static glow. Of purple. Crackling, electric purple. That was growing bigger… and bigger…

“What's that thing?” Hunk asked, urgently.

“I think that's our signal to get out of here!” Lance exclaimed, just in time for both of them to move out of the way before a bright beam burst from the opening.

Ugh, of course they were trying to kill us, Lance thought.

Fighter ships were now launching into the air, heading straight toward the Yellow and Blue Lion who were now separate on two seperate sides of the battleship. The first feeling Lance felt wasn't fear or nervousness as he originally thought he would feel, but instead annoyance. They nearly killed him back at that desert-y planet! And he though they killed Hunk too! Screw that, they're going to succeed with this mission, and Lance was going to make sure if it. And with that, annoyance, grew confidence and leadership. 

He grinned.

“Hunk,” Lance ordered on the intercom, “you dismantle the ion cannon while I take these jerks on a space ride!”

“Ten-four!” Hunk encouraged, as both of them blasted off, Hunk towards the ion cannon, and Lance towards the fighters.

Lance shot off a blast and immediately took one down. He maneuvered around, and took two in between the jaws, crushing them before they could get to shoot at him. When the lion’s mouth was busy, the lion used its tail for defence and attack, which Lance thought was pretty cool.

“Whoa-ho-ho! Yeah, buddy! This is way more fun without Hunk’s barfing!” Lance exclaimed.

In the corner of his eye, Lance saw Hunk charge towards the ion cannon, getting pass the fighters. That was good. Hunk picked up his pace, but as soon as he was about to smash into the cannon a huge beam propelled him back. Wait, no. Not a beam. A sort of purple sphere shield. The Yellow Lion regained its balance.

“What the quiznak?” Hunk questioned to no one in particular, circling the thing that stopped him from getting the job done. It now surrounded the whole warship. “What is that? A force field?”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Keith, Pidge and Shiro made their way slowly but stealthily into the intergalactic ship. Pidge felt determined, Keith felt slightly unsure and Shiro felt incredibly nauseous.

He looked down the hallway that was lighted by glowing purple lights, and suddenly felt dizzy. He knew this place before. He had been here before. Suddenly, he had a sudden flashback. Images flickered briefly in his mind, causing old memories to swell to the surface. A Galran guard, entering their prison cell, bringing bad luck. Then more of them, standing and staring over him, as he twitched and screamed like their toy. Last of all, the glowing, sinister, purples eyes of Emperor Zarkon himself, glaring at him with such horrendous hatred. 

Shiro took a step back, panting. He blinked, trying to drag himself back to reality and cover up his discomfort from Keith and Pidge. He wasn't doing a good job. Keith turned back at him, alarmed and concerned. Pidge walked cautiously to him.

“I've been here before,” he explained, staring at the halls. He wasn't talking about a Galras ship, but specifically this ship. “After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here.”

Pidge’s eyes lit up. 

“So, that means your other crewmembers, they might be held captive here,” he marvelled, hoping to god he was right. He said his next words without thinking clearly. “We… We've got to rescue them.”

“Pidge,” Shiro said with forced calm and hidden pain, “we don't have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus.” Of course he wanted to save Matt and Sam, but this was the worst time to do so, and he had to think what was better for them in the long run.

“But we can't just leave prisoners here!” Pidge yelled angrily, not caring that he was loud and not discreet. He's gotten this far, he wasn't going to turn back now.

“Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices.” Shiro replied, wondering why Pidge had been so hung up on the Kerberos Mission, but knew he had to get some harsh sense back into the kid. Maybe that would bring him back down to Earth. He was probably just scared after all. “Now, let's get moving.”

Shiro turned to walk away, but Pidge knew nothing in hell would stop him from getting those prisoners back. If he had to expose himself and let everyone know who he was, so be it, as long as he got Sam and Matt back.

“No!” He yelled, stopping both Keith and Shiro in their paths. They both turned towards him. Screw being secretive, he thought. “Commander Holt is my father,” he let out. “He and my brother were the one on the Kerberos Mission with you.”

“Commander Holt is your father?” Shiro asked, his eyes widened in both surprise and understanding. Now that made sense.

“Yes,” Pidge answered impatiently. “I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother and I'm not going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!”

He knew he was being reckless, but he didn't care. He didn't care if Shiro and Keith left without him. He didn't care if he messed up the mission. He didn't care if he got arrested or killed doing this. He had cared way too much, and his family will always be Pidge’s top priority, no matter what.

He turned to leave.

“”I'm coming with you.”

He stopped in his tracks, shocked. He turned his head a little bit to look at Shiro, unsure if he was joking or not, but he was staring right back. He had already made his decision by the looks of it.

“What?” Keith asked for Pidge.

“I remember where the prisoners were held. Keith, you go find the Red Lion,” he clarified.

“By myself?” He asked incredulously. How was he supposed to find this thing by himself with a time limit?! The Blue Lion had been a fluke, plus it took months to actually locate it!

“Minor change of plans. You'll be fine,” Shiro said, getting slightly irritated, but placing a reassuring hand on Keith’s shoulder. He had to inform Keith that he couldn't be his usual impatient self when trying to find the lion.. “Just remember, patience yields focus. So--”

Keith, who had been looking very unimpressed by Shiro’s last second bail, turned to the sound of an automatic door opening, and saw the light of upcoming Galra guards approaching them.

“Run!” Shiro ordered, as he and Pidge took off in one direction, and Keith the other. 

Run, you're good at running aren't you, Keith?

He stopped at a crossroad. The symbol of the Galra glowed in purple, as two hallways split off in two different directions. 

“Great,” he sighed in frustration. “Now, which way?”

He stared at the symbol, which was suited with two lights shaped like Galran eyes below it. He wondered, could that be what Emperor Zarkon looked like? Wait, how did he know what Galra eyes looked like? Was he supposed to know? Keith thought, but couldn't place it. Must've been Sendak, his mind resulted, though he didn't really believe it. Yeah, Sendak.

The sound of arriving footsteps pulled him out of his train of thoughts. Galras from one side of the crossroad marched in unison, and Keith didn't have to think twice before running the other direction.

He tried to remember which ways he turned, so he could backtrack when push came to shove, but he was also very panicked at the moment. Every turn he took looked the exact same as the hall before. He kept on running, knowing he had limited time, but had no idea where he was going. He didn't feel any energy, any source, nothing. And that wasn't good.

He ran down another hall, and groaned in absolute frustration. He was at the crossroads again. 

“You've got to be kidding me!”

He wished Shiro was with him. He'd know what to do. But it was just Keith who knew he was never going to find the Red Lion at this pace. He didn't want to bear the weight of failing the mission again. This time, since Shiro was here again, and for reasons unbeknownst to him, he would try not to be such a disappointment.

Patience yields focus, is what he said to him. Keith straightened up and took deep breaths. He might as well try.

“Patience yields focus,” he murmured to himself, closing his eyes and trying to connect. 

It started as a low growling, then a flash of an image. It was the Red Lion! Held captive of course, down one of the same hallways that looked no different from the other hallways. Twists and turns, the lion called out to him, directing Keith to its exact location.

Keith smiled, and turned around.

“Gotcha.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Pidge and Shiro sprinted down a hall lighted with green instead of purple this time. Pidge assumed this would be where another station would be at. Not for weapons or controls, but possibly for holding prisoners. He hoped so.

They reached the end, where an automatic, locked door was presented before them. Pidge was about to try and decode the door, when a small, triangular, hovering drone appeared before them. Red wiring ran through it, and since it didn't have any weapons equip to it, the two knew it was for security. Possibly a camera. But the ticking that came from it made it seem like it was analysing them.

Without a second to think it through, Pidge shot it down. It wasn't a hit that destroyed it, but one that sent it out of balance for a few ticks.

“That thing saw us, we should get out of here,” Shiro stated, not wanting to be imprisoned a second time.

“Wait,” Pidge stopped, adjusting the drone a bit, taking out the controls and started to do some fast tinkering. “I think this might come in handy. Now I'll just reset the controls…” he shut the little control panel, and the drone started to float, now powered by a more soothing blue light instead of vibrant red, “and it’s working for us.”

Pidge stood up, and the drone floated up too. Pidge was really excited. He couldn't believe he could have his very own drone to himself. Oh, this was going to be so cool. But it needed a name… “I'm going to call you ‘Rover’. Follow me!”

They approached the door, and Pidge told Rover to open it up. Sure enough, Rover unlocked the door without a sweat.

“Excellent, Pidge,” Shiro marvelled.

The door revealed many terrified alien prisoners, who gasped at the two paladins in shock.

“Dad?” Pidge called out, immediately stepping into the cell, and looking around. However, the cell was only held captive by other aliens, hugging each other and looking at the newcomers in fear. 

“Don't be afraid,” Shiro reassured, as Pidge frowned and looked down, looking like a kicked puppy. They probably thought they were here to put more harm to them. “We’re here to help you escape.”

“It's you…” one of the aliens praised, staring at Shiro with awe. “It's you… The Champion. If anyone can get us out of here, he can.”

That named seemed familiar to Shiro, but it wasn't enough to trigger any memories. “Wh… What did you call me?”

“We don't have much time,” Pidge interrupted, all his previous excitement gone. “Let's get to the escape pods.”

Shiro figured Pidge would be quite disheartened, but he would have to talk about with him later. Same with the alien who called him The Champion. If he could.

“Let's go. Come on!” Shiro urged.

In no time, they were running towards the pods. With the help of Rover, they managed to get there without stirring any trouble, and avoiding any guards. They made it there quickly and quietly. Now a pod lay open for all of the prisoners to enter. 

“Hurry!” Pidge insisted at the prisoners.

“Halt!” A guard demanded behind them.

Pidge turned around, seeing a whole group of them charging towards them. They definitely outnumbered him and Shiro. Three to one. Plus, Pidge didn't even know how to use his weapon that well, and Shiro didn't even have one. This was going to be bad.

Shiro ran up next to Pidge, about to help him when needed, but his right hand immediately began to burn. He looked over and it was glowing bright purple. The pain it hurt so bad… 

He held his arm in balance, but fell to his knees, grinding his teeth and trying to keep himself from blacking out from the absolute agony it was giving him. Everything became distorted, his vision, his hearing, his senses. Pidge was yelling at him, but Shiro couldn't even hear him properly.

Then, something clicked. He straightened out his hand, his pain turning to power. 

He launched himself at the nearest guard, who started to shoot at him. He deflected the blasts with his glowing hand, slicing the robotic alien in half as he got in close perimeter. He punched the next one, and then cut through two at the same time. He turned around to face the last, upcoming guard, and punched right through it with his glowing, right hand. 

Pidge stood in shock as the last guard fell to the ground with a thud. They turned to face the prisoners, who have now loaded themselves onto the pod, which was now taking off. 

The alien who had called Shiro ‘The Champion’ waved at them. “Thank you, Shiro.”

“Wait!” Shiro called out to him, still having so much questions. How did he know his name? Why was he calling him The Champion? What happened to his hand? Where's Matt and Sam? “How do you…?”

But it was way too late. They were already gone.

Pidge nudged his arm playfully. 

“Shiro, that was amazing!” He exclaimed, his wonderful sparkle in his eyes returning. “Where did you learn to fight with that?”

“No idea,” he sighed, staring at his hand. 

He was getting pretty tired with having ‘no idea’ about anything.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Keith made it to the Red Lion. It was floating in a protective shield, like the one where they found the Blue Lion, but this time it was red.

“Bingo,” he smiled, raising a hand to rest on the force field. “Let's get out of here. Open up,” he ordered.

Nothing. Not one sound or stir.

“It's me. Keith. Your buddy,” he reassured, wondering if the lion was timid or confused. 

Still nothing.

“It's me!” He shouted slowly, annoyed now. Why was it so slow? This never happened with Lance! “Keith, your-- I AM YOUR PALADIN!”

He knocked, wondering if he had to do what Lance did, and suddenly, purple lasers were being shot at him from approaching Galra soldiers. He summoned his shield to protect himself, wondering if the lion was just going to let him die. Was he supposed to be the paladin of this lion? Surely, the lion sent its coordinates to him so he could obtain it. Then why the hell was it not letting him in?!

Whatever, it needed to open up soon. Or he and the mission will be a big flop.

“I'm bonding with you!” He shouted at it, remembering what Allura said. He didn't have time to prove himself or do some real bonding! The lion would just have to suck it up and make do! What else could Keith do?

But still, nothing.

“Hey!” He yelled. “Come on! We're connected!”

Nothing.

So the lion was going to leave him to die. He played around with the idea of abandoning the mission and the lion completely, and running away again, which would be easiest. But, no. He knew he wasn't going to do it this time. He already promised himself and Shiro (mentally) that he would make an effort. So, he imagined himself as Shiro. He would not let himself go down without a fight. He would protect the lion like a true hero. So he summoned his sword and charged forwards, at the enemy.

“You're not getting this lion!” He yelled nobly, pushing a soldier away with his shield and slicing another's legs off. He silently thanked god they were just robotic. 

But, in that slight hesitation, more soldiers advanced on him, outnumbering him completely. They shot at him with no remorse, and soon he was propelled back by a blast, his sword and shield taken down. 

He pushed back, looking around. What could he do? What could he do?

He realised he saw the control panel right next to him. It was all in Galran language (which he thought was quite weird since they all spoke English, which was even more peculiar), though he did see this huge red button, and judging from the huge trap door beneath the guards, he could probably guess what it was for.

Without clearly thinking it through, and only thinking of getting rid of the Galra, he activated his helmet and slammed the red button.

Sure enough, the trap door opened from underneath them, and the Galra guards went flying out into space. Unfortunately for Keith, the force was also sucking him out too. He grabbed onto the control panel, but his grip was weak and unprepared.

He held on with all his might, knowing he couldn't keep it up. He looked to the Red Lion for any help, but it stood as still as ever. Loose pieces of the ship was breaking loose too now, getting blown off into space. One piece of debris went flying right out onto Keith’s left hand, and Keith let go of the panel from it. He now held on with only one hand, his other aching lamely and uselessly at his side.

So this is how he was going to die? No, he wasn't going to allow himself to give up now. If he couldn't count on the Red Lion, then he'd have to count on himself. He reached his arm out again, trying to grab a hold of the control panel, so he could hopefully get this thing to shut. He reached out despite the sharp pain, almost there… come on… 

Another piece of the ship hit it away, sending not just his arm off this time, but this time his whole body shot backwards, and before he knew it, he was out in space.

He looked around. Oh no. Oh no.

This was bad. This was very bad. How was he going to get back now? Should he contact Lance or Hunk to get him? But then the mission will be a fail! But it was better than dying. How much time did he have left? How much oxygen was in this thing? Okay, shallow breathing. Quick fast breaths, was that what he was supposed to do? Was it enough? How could he get back to save the Red Lion? He was out alone in space, floating further and further away… 

Suddenly, Keith felt power and security rushing through him. A roar sent his sight looking at what was in front of him, where the massive Red Lion was coming at him, full speed. It opened its jaws, and swallowed him in.

Thankfully, it wasn't a real cat, and it was again, robotic. Keith got himself comfortable in the pilots room in no time. There was no time to feel relieved or shocked, at the moment he felt at home, and that was a feeling Keith hadn't felt in a long time. 

“Good kitty,” Keith said, putting his hands on the control and getting ready to blast off. “Let's roll.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Hunk fired a frustrated blast at the force field. It was strong and full of energy, and Hunk knew it was slowly going to crack under the force (the Galra had never faced a part-super weapon, so Hunk didn't blame them). However, he was still irritated at how long it was taking him.

“Come on,” he egged, “just break, you stupid thing!”

As if empowered by Hunk’s distaste, the lion shot off more power, completely destroying the shield and leaving the ion cannon vulnerable. 

“Score one for Hunk!” Hunk exclaimed, zooming down to the cannon and crashing his lion into it. He then backed up a bit, viewing the widely-dented cannon with satisfaction.

Normally, he would've never done this for two reasons: a) any standard Garrison ship would've left him severely damaged and b) he probably would've thrown up. But with the lion’s extra armour and Hunk’s great mood at his success seemed to outweigh everything else. Maybe he could get used to this… 

And as if it couldn't get any better, the Red and Green Lion flew up beside him.

“You guys made it!” Hunk cried through his intercom.

“Kitty Rose has left the stage!” Pidge confirmed.

“Let's get the heck out of here!” Lance offered.

No one disagreed.

“I hope I stopped that cannon,” Hunk mused. “I could barely make a dent in it.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

All four lions gathered together. Now they just needed one more. 

Shiro could feel the energy coursing through all four lions, and wondered when the chamber will open for the black one.

As if on cue, one by one, each of the lion’s eyes started to glow up. The chamber in front of him sparked with life, and Shiro immediately began to second guess himself.

What if he wasn't the right guy? There was so much missing pieces to his memory, how could he be trusted? What were the Alteans thinking right now? Was this just a coincidence that he was here, or was it fate?

The thoughts died immediately as soon as the chamber opened, revealing the Black Lion. It was bigger than the rest, with red, massive, straight wings, and an intimidating aura, resembling leadership. Only the best of the best could ever fly this lion. It's eyes sparked with power, and it let out a mighty roar. In response, the lions roared back.

This was it. Voltron was back.

Shiro smiled to himself. Now all they had to do was find how to form Voltron, figure out exactly how to fight as it, and given the damage to the Galra’s ion cannon they had a few days at the very least--

Beep! Beep! Beep!

As if cursing Shiro with bad luck, the castle’s alarm started blaring red, which could only mean one thing. The Galra were back.

Shiro didn't know how they recovered so quickly, but he knew Voltron was their last chance. They needed Voltron. They needed Voltron now.

He quickly strapped into the Black Lion, immediately feeling bonded and strangely familiar with it. That was good. At least he knew he was the black paladin.

His hands found the controls and it glowed with warmth as soon as his hands touched them. For good measure, the lion decided to roar again. It had just woken from 10,000 years of slumber, so Shiro could understand why it was so excited to kick some Galran butt.

The Black Lion than launched off upwards, the other four following in tow. They flew skywards, out of the huge opening of the tower, and to where the chaos was. Shiro took note of the blue particle barrier (they had talked about it briefly with the Alteans earlier) shielding the tower from damage (Allura and Coran must've activated it), just like the one Hunk had to get through. It seemed to be holding off pretty fine, but he knew it wasn't going to be long before it would be destroyed.

The lions flew down to the ground, lining up and observing the battle before them before completely jumping in. Blue, red, black, green and yellow. It was a good thing they didn't hop straight into battle, because as soon as all the lions were on show, a loud blast from the ion cannon was released.

Suddenly, the particle barrier was encased in fire, and heat burned down on everyone within the massive fireball. The pressure on all of them was so powerful. The ringing white noise was almost unbearable. The heat was enough to bring everyone collapsing within a few seconds. But still, they remained strong. They had to. No more planets were going to be destroyed. 

The fire eventually evaporated and everything disappeared almost instantly.

“Man, those Galra guys repair things fast,” Hunk commented.

No one needed to explain that the particle barrier couldn't take much more of it. Not even when Allura explained the situations to them.

“I can give you cover with the castle’s defences for a while,” she warned into their intercoms, a bit breathless from the Galra’s previous attack, “but you have to form Voltron now or we’ll all be destroyed!” 

“Jeez, no pressure,” Hunk scowled, his sass getting the better of him. He, and all the paladins, knew it was the truth though.

Another blast from the ion cannon was fired upon the castle, just as hot and annoying as the last one. After it disappeared, the castle’s particle barrier started to crack and flicker. Forget the castle, even if it could withhold the blasts from the ion cannon, Shiro was sure they'd all go insane. So as soon as the blast disappeared, he had to get Voltron to act.

“Listen up, Team Voltron!” He exclaimed, not caring if it sounded cringey. “The only way to succeed is to give it all you got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?”

Even though they didn't reply, Shiro could feel their confirmation within the lion's. They were with him. He was their leader now. He knew they weren't going to be paladins for nothing.

“I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding?” Hunk asked for clarity.

“Yes,” Pidge, Lance and Keith responded in a monotone, probably bummed that Hunk spoiled their heroic moment.

“Let's do this!” Shiro exclaimed, his lion running out of the particle barrier (with the others following closely behind) and into the midst of evil. 

“Uh, how?” Lance asked, a little to late.

“Good question. Does anyone have any idea how to form Voltron?” 

“I don't see a ‘combine-into-giant-robot’ button anywhere on my dashboard,” Hunk said, being sassy again.

The Galras were firing at them now, the lions speed were the only thing keeping them alive. They kept coming, shooting blasts of certain death right on their tails. They were forming Voltron for the first time, with no instructions on how to it and no experience on doing it.

“This is insane!” Pidge yelled frustratedly, even though it was obvious to everyone. “Can't they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?”

Before anyone can respond, the Green Lion stopped and jumped at the nearest Galra ship, throwing it into others so they all crashed in a brilliant explosion. The Red Lion’s tail shot at two upcoming ships, getting rid of them.

“We've got to do something,” Keith stressed.

“Combine!” Hunk cried with so much enthusiasm, crashing into Keith thinking their lions would somehow form together. Instead, due to its smaller size, the Red Lion went flying from the impact and tumbled nearby.

“Hey!” Keith grunted, as the lion got back up. It was a Lion with no pupils, but Hunk could feel both their glares on him.

“Ok, that didn't work,” Hunk signed, his lion visibly deflating.

Before Keith could respond, more Galra ships were launched at them, and thanks to the Red Lion’s incredible reflexes and the Yellow Lion’s extra armour, they managed to be unharmed from the surprise attack.

“Quickly, Paladins!” Allura warned into their intercom, the screen of her showing a very distressed princess and a frantic advisor in the background. “Our energy levels are getting low!” A sudden explosion sent Allura offline, which didn't help calm the nerves of everyone else.

“Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine,” Shiro suggested. He had no idea if it would work, but he had to try something. They couldn't just continue like this if not they were all dead. “Take off on my cue.”

The lions were beside him now, no one daring to disagree. The Red and Blue Lions were on the right of him, and the Yellow and Green Lions on the left. They were running in a formatted position, to a nearby cliff that the Paladins were going to jump off of.

“One, two, three,” Shiro counted as they took off, “Voltron!”

“Here we go!” Hunk cried, his nervousness, hope and excitement clear in his voice.

“Come one, come on!” Lance egged in frustration.

They were flying in a sort of triangular position, flying nearly vertically. The good news was that the Galra ships were having a hard time catching up on the lions, but the bad news was it was taking some time. 

“Nothing's happening,” Shiro commented, thinking they should try a different tactic.

But, as he soon as he was about to pull away, he did feel something. Or maybe noticed something. Lance picked up on it first.

“Hey, wait, wait, wait!” Lance insisted. “I feel something!”

“I do, too,” Hunk agreed, his voice displaying awe. “I feel it. It's like we're all being pulled in the same direction!”

“Uh, guys,” Shiro called, “I think I know why. Look up.”

The Galran battleship was right there, a laser being sent down on them, and sucking the lions up to the ship.

“What the cheese?” Lance asked rhetorically, incredibly bummed out.

“Sendak’s ship is sucking us in like a black hole!” Pidge yelled, way more panicked than Lance.

Not too soon after, the battleship let out another mighty burst from their ion cannon, hitting the castle’s particle barrier and causing it to burst with a ray of energy. The castle, too, was now completely defenceless.

“Oh no,” Shiro said, the castle’s condition popping up on his dashboard. One more hit and Allura and Coran were gone.

“I don't care what you say, Shiro. I'm panicking now!” Hunk exclaimed, on the verge of tears. Fear enveloped him and he truly thought he was to die. He didn't understand how everyone else was coping with this but Hunk thought he had done a fine job without breaking down so far. This was long overdue. He was going to die, so it didn't matter how he expressed himself.

“It can't end here!” Pidge yelped as Hunk’s screeching pierced all of their intercoms. There was too much he hadn't done. He hadn't saved Matt or his Dad yet. He was finally getting somewhere. And his mom… his face paled. The thought of leaving his mom all alone was nearly as scarier than the present moment. She had been through so much. She could lose her whole family. Pidge had to find Matt and Sam and bring the back, for her, for him, and for them. But alas, this may as well be the end of the line.

“This is it!” Lance cried, as if confirming Pidge’s mental question. This was how he was going to die. He nearly died with Hunk on that planet where they retrieved the Yellow Lion, and now he would actually die. And it wouldn't even be heroic. Would anyone actually remember him? Probably not. His family might grieve for a little while, but after that who would? No one would even know how he died, since it was most likely the other Paladins and the Alteans would die with him. Well, at least he wouldn't have to die alone.

“It's been a pleasure flying with you boys,” Keith said nobly. And strangely, he meant it. In their short time, Keith didn't feel as much as an outsider as he thought he would. Sure, Lance was the shining exception, but Pidge and Hunk were actually alright. Even Allura and Coran seemed ok. Having Shiro by his side helped a lot, and at least he went down fighting for a good cause. Just like his old man did. He hoped his dad would be proud of him.

Shiro believed the Galra were doing this to capture the lions and kill them. Why else would they need the Paladins of Voltron alive? They'd most definitely destroy the castle, with the Alteans inside, and Emperor Zarkon would also probably find a way to get rid of the lions once and for all, then continue to slay the galaxy, eventually colonising Earth. 

He thought of Allura, what she must be feeling right now. To have woken up from a 10,000 year coma straight in the middle of a galactic war between her and a whole alien race, with inexperienced pilots to work with and her only comfort was her castle, her advisor, some mice and a artificial version of her father. Because everything else was lost. 

He thought of his young comrades, how they must be feeling. He remembered the look on Matt’s face when he was captured by the Galra, and imagining the paladins faces as they yelled what they all thought would be their last goodbyes into the intercom. How would it be for them if they were captured? Would they be tortured? Thrown into a lifetime of hard labour? Or killed on the spot? Each ending sounded horrible. And he really, really didn't want to die with the conscious of four other young children dying with him. He couldn't help but blame himself for all of it.

So there was just one possible conclusion he had come to. He didn't know how they were going to do it, or of it was even possible, but they couldn't let the Galra get their hands on the lions, nor themselves. They had to escape the beam.

He gripped his controls and spoke his next words in a clear, and powerful tone. He didn't care if he was about to sound cheesy to the others, but he had to inform them how serious them failing would be to everyone and everything else. They were paladins for a reason. Shiro knew they could prevail.

“No! We can do this. We have to believe in ourselves. We can't give up. We are the universe’s only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can't fail! We won't fail!” He chose his next words carefully, but they didn't need much thinking. “If we work together, we'll win together!” 

“Yeah!” They cried back in unison.

Shiro was both relieved and impressed by their drive, and their will to get back up on their feet quickly. None of them knew how, but they knew this wasn't the end of the line for them, or the universe anymore. Maybe they it was the last rush of adrenaline, the power of Shiro’s short speech, some gut feeling, but from that moment on (or at least in that moment), they were a team. They had the same goal, the same feelings and the same look upon things, and they trusted each other fully, even though it was only 24 hours ago they were considered completely normal (excluding Shiro, of course). They were in this together, and they were in it for real. 

But before the paladins could properly process what they were all feeling, the five lions roared simultaneously, their bodies growing brighter and brighter with more power. The screens shone with light, and each paladin could feel their lion shifting, moving, transforming. Not only could they feel their lions, but they could feel the other lions as well. They still remained seated, but their lion became part of something bigger, the rest of their teammates in the same robot as them.

For the very first time, the team had formed Voltron.

As the dust cleared, Voltron stood triumphantly, its hand lodged into the ion cannon damaging it and sending it off course so it missed the castle and shot too far to the right. That blow was supposed to destroy the palace, but thanks to Voltron, it was still in tact. 

Voltron was quite impressive too, truly deserving the name: Defender of the Universe. With the Yellow Lion making its left leg, and the Blue Lion making its right leg, the Green Lion making its left arm and the Red it's right, and the Black Lion making the torso and the head. It was hard to believe they were originally lions in the first place, and how quick it could go from that to this. Voltron had an intense aura around it too. It looked ancient, but also very reborn. It was always ready to fight, but also protect. It was a miracle for some, and a worst nightmare for others. It was the saviour of the universe.

“I can't believe it!” Keith whooped, being the first one to speak.

“We formed Voltron!” Pidge agreed, bouncing up and down on his seat.

“I'm a leg!” Hunk cried incredulously, too happy and stunned to even process his thoughts properly.

“How are we doing this?” Lance asked, because it would seem pretty hard to control the giant robot with five others (each controlling one limb). But, it was surprisingly easy. It was like they could feel what to do next. 

“I don't know,” Shiro admitted, “but let's get that cannon!”

Without further ado, the rest of the crew remembered what job they had to do, and they immediately got to work. Pidge and Keith latched Voltron’s arms onto the cannon, got a solid grip on it, and ripped the cannon of the ship, throwing it far away. A normal lion of Voltron would never have enough strength for that, but alas, this was five combined lions, and the paladins managed without breaking a sweat. Then Voltron reared its arm back, and thrust it into the battleship. The Red Lion than used its mouth to blow a massive hole through the ship, causing a humongous explosion that sent the ship breaking in half and crumbling. Just for good measure, Voltron swerved up and, with the Green Lion, punched a hole again through the battleship, and blasted it. Team Voltron shouted in victory as they blasted more holes around the Galra ship, even though it was already damaged beyond repair. The rest of the logical Galras would be attending to escape pods by now. 

Once the paladins realised it was enough, Voltron flew back down to Arus, landed and admired the view of the whole battleship (the smaller, fighter planes included), exploded with massive nuclear power.

The Galra had just been given a slight taste of Voltron’s power, but they all knew that with every passing day, each side will get stronger, but only one can prevail. The question was: who would it be?

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Good work, Paladins!” Allura cried gleefully, running out of the castle (Coran in tow) to greet and congratulate them on their first success. 

“Thanks, pretty lady,” Lance shot back, which Allura decidedly ignored him.

Even though the Paladins weren't really doing much physically, it still took up a lot of mental energy, and after forming Voltron and finding all the lions in one day, they were pretty drained. 

Lance and Keith were panting next to each other like they just ran a marathon. Pidge was leaning on his hands that were planted on his knees as he took his helmet off. Hunk was on the ground gasping and looked very in need of food. 

Shiro walked up to the clan, slapping Keith on the back as he did so.

“We did it,” he said, beaming.

“Heck yeah, we did,” Keith confirmed smiling at Shiro, his eyes soft.

“How did we do it?”

“I was just, like, screaming the whole time,” Hunk chimed in. “Maybe that did it.”

Pidge put on his glasses and swallowed. Now that he was a Paladin of Voltron, does this meant he had to give up on finding Matt and his Dad in order for this? Because, Pidge wasn’t sure he could find it in himself. At first, he thought being the Green Paladin would be a bonus and grant him more power and reputation among the galaxy, hopefully even reaching his family. But now, after actually fighting and nearly dying from the Galra (it was even the first day this started), Pidge wasn't so sure that was going to happen. And now, he didn't know what his next move was.

Shiro must've sensed his struggle, because he put a reassuring hand on Pidge's shoulder.

“We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father,” he promised. A link of understanding past through both Pidge and Shiro, and now just because they just formed Voltron together. This was much more personal. Shiro was also really close to Matt and Sam Holt. They weren't his comrades, but also his teammates and his responsibility. Shiro was striving to save them too, and Pidge felt a great amount of weight get lifted from his shoulders when he realised he wasn't in this alone. “Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you.”

Pidge smiled, genuinely.

“We won the battle,” Allura announced, “but the war has only just begun. I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these lions.”

“Good thing you paladins know what you're doing,” Coran added,” because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again.”

“Totally,” Hunk dismissed. “Wait…, what?”

“We barely survived forming Voltron this one time,” Lance added, if the exhausted, traumatised crew of humans wasn't enough to prove that.

“And you only had to fight one ship. Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them!” Coran exclaimed, gesturing wildly, knowing that comment will surely make them feel better about themselves. He straightened up, playing with his moustache. “It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe.”

The Paladins stopped, letting the new name sink in. _Defenders of the Universe. Defenders of the Universe. Defenders of the Universe._

“Defenders of the Universe, huh?” Shiro asked smiling lightly.

Everyone gazed up at the five lions, surrounding them in a semi circle. With the truth sinking in, that they were everyone's only hope, they had such a big part to play in history, and strangely, even though they were all absolutely terrified of what was going to happen, excitement was the main emotion here. Because there was hope. They had found new hope. The thing that could bring down the inevitable evil. Voltron had arose. And this was only the beginning, but there were so much possibilities and outcomes. Whatever it may be, the ending was sure to be truly historical.

Shiro smiled. 

“That has a nice ring to it.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guys this one took forever! Struggled with inspiration here, and went on a month-long holiday which was great for my mental health, but not so good for the story! 
> 
> Sorry it had to take so long but at least I am finally finished with episode 1. Now we can actually move on, which I am quite excited about. 
> 
> Happy Halloween, you guys! Thank you so much for reading!  
> Yanna.


	4. S1E2: "Some Assembly Required"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura and Coran can hardly believe the mess they're presented with when the paladins they were given is hardly anything but. They have to put up with Pidge’s inner fury, Shiro’s triggering past, Hunk’s hesitation towards certain things, and, of course, Lance and Keith’s stupid rivalry. How could they ever become a true team, let alone form Voltron again?

The alarms blared loudly, echoing throughout the castle as Allura grabbed the intercom.

“Everybody up! Zarkon’s attacking!” She yelled into it, making sure she was loud and clear enough to send her message across to all of the paladins. “The castle’s about to be destroyed! Go! Go! Go! We need Voltron now! Hurry! We can't survive much longer!”

Truth be told, she was lying. There was no Zarkon. There were no Galra. Their lives weren't in danger at the moment. 

Truth be told, it was very early in the morning on Arus, and most likely everyone was sleeping since they had no reason to be up. 

Truth be told, Allura was testing them. Seeing how long it will take the unprepared paladins to react to her distress call, and seeing how well they will handle it. Even though it might be a bit harsh, they had no time to waste. Zarkon was probably arranging his next form of attack, and the new paladins of Voltron was only assembled 17-18 _‘vargas’_ ago.

And, truth be told, Coran was shaking his head in disapproval.

“You've got to sell it a little bit more,” he stated, clearing his throat and grabbing the intercom. 

“Oh, no! Allura is dead!” He screeched in anguish as Allura visibly started to cringe. She mentally begged him to stop. “Aw, it's horrible! Her head fell off!”

Suddenly, Coran dropped on his knees, his pained voice turning into one of sparky curiosity.

“Wait! What? Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura’s head? What are your final words?” He sniffed, his eyes swelling up with tears. 

Trust her, Allura loved her loyal advisor, dearly. But _sometimes_ , he was a little too much then she _sometimes_ would've hoped for.

“Coran,” she said, sternly.

“Oh, yes, Princess, I'm listening,” he croaked emotionally.

“It's over,” Allura sighed as the alarms went silent. She turned expectantly to the other paladins of Voltron, who stood before her in a mix of shock and disorientation.

“Oh, I know!” Coran wailed (oblivious to the paladins in front of him), slamming a defeated fist into the floor dramatically. “If only Voltron had been formed!”

When he opened his eyes to see the other paladins staring at him, he stood up abruptly. 

“Oh! Time!” He announced chucking the intercom behind him. 

“I guess this isn't an actual attack,” Shiro said, flatly.

“And it is a good thing it wasn't,” Allura snapped back defensively, “because it took you… Coran?

“Seventy-five degrees,” he answered, staring at the small device in his hand, as Allura’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer.”

“However long it was, it was too long,” Allura grumbled, walking up to the four paladins. Keith looked ticked off and moody. Pidge looked tired and confused (and he had some weird drone behind him too for a reason unbeknownst to Allura). Hunk looked ready to pass out any second not. Lance wasn't even present. And Shiro seemed to be the only one who was really taking her words in. “You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Pidge, Hunk, where are your bayards? And where is Lance?”

Speak of the devil, Lance appeared in the control room, walking leisurely on Blue Lion slippers, and a long elegant robe. He held some sort of brewed concoction in his hand, and his face not only displayed a content grin, but a face mask too.

“Good morning, everybody,” he yawned. “What's going on?” 

“Coran and I have been up for hours getting the castle back in order,” Allura explained aggressively, trying to keep her frustration and fatigue down to the minimum. “We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed?”

“Hey,” Hunk yawned, his voice heavy and his eyelids sagging. “You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle,” he grumbled, ticking it all off with his fingers. “That's a lot to process in, uh… I don't know. What day is today?” 

“It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!” Coran answered, helpfully.

“It's a lot to process,” Hunk said again. 

“You must understand the stakes of our mission,” Allura pleaded, keying in some buttons to make the whole room light up with the starry locations like she did when assigning each of the paladins a lion. If they couldn't take their jobs seriously now, there might as well be no hope in defeating Zarkon. “Over the last 10,000 years, the castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations.”

She and the other paladins watched as more than half the planets and galaxies turned red, displaying a distress signal beside them.

“So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe,” she stated. She started rotating the planets, where the red slowly turned to blue.

“Earth is here,” she mentioned, pointing at the Milky Way galaxy in blue. The scary thing was that it wasn't too far from the conquered galaxies, and seeing how fast the Galra could move, and how advanced they were, Earth wouldn't stand much of a chance against them.

“An attack on your planet is inevitable,” Allura said, letting her words sink in. 

“Oh, no,” Hunk whimpered, his eyes wide and his heart sinking.

“Exactly,” Allura confirmed. “Our Mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon.” 

“The Princess is right,” Shiro said, nodding to the rest of the paladins who were wide awake now. “Let's get to our lions and start training.”

“Wait,” Pidge called, his hazel eyes widening. “But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galran ship.”

“Negative, number five,” Coran disagreed, looking down at the small boy. “I have your ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow.”

“That's right,” Allura reassured. “Now get to your lions.”

No one argued after that, though Pidge looked like he really wanted to. 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“Should someone go after him?” Lance asked, as and the Green, Red and Black Lions lined up in front of the castle, waiting for their fifth teammate.

“Hi, guys! Sorry, everybody,” Hunk apologised into their intercoms before anyone could answer Lance’s question. “Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the bridge?”

It was true. Hunk had a _terrible_ time getting to the bridge. First he was dropped and left by his hangar, so he had to slide down this ramp which took him about _twice_ the time it would've taken him normally if he was still holding on to his hanger. Then, as he tried to get into his pod by slowly lowering himself down, it took off without him, leaving him falling onto his bottom. Not to mention, _the climb_ to get to his lion after. 

Ugh, it was such a nightmare.

After he joined up with his team, Shiro immediately got down to the training.

“All right, guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync,” he suggested.

Allura offered some more inspirational words and soon enough, the five paladins were flying in the air with an enthusiastic “yeah!”

They flew in a V-shape to the sky, pointing upwards like they did with the Galra. They let out another excited “yeah!”

Nothing worked. They did it again, again with an exclamation of adrenaline. _Surely_.

Nothing happened again. They surged again, with nothing happening, and again and again until they lost count. They're previous “yeah!” now nothing but a lame “yay.” It wasn't working. Something was wrong that none of the paladins couldn't quite place their finger on, but even they didn't feel the rush of Voltron. 

Alas, they tried again, this time only Hunk ‘cheered.’

“Whoo,” he murmured blankly, and raised his eyebrows when no one responded. “Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?”

“Clearly this isn't working,” Shiro responded, discarding Hunk’s comment. “Let's set down for a bit.”

“Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up,” Keith suggested. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, let's try literally building Voltron, like stacking on top of each other.”

“Like a cheerleader pyramid?” Lance ridiculed, Keith feeling his sly smirk through their intercoms.

“You got a better idea?” He snapped back.

Lance shut up.

“It's worth a try,” Shiro agreed. 

Soon enough, the Green and Blue Lion were standing beside each other, as the Red was holding up the Black Lion, and for some strange reason the Yellow Lion seemed to be the one on top. And it looked _very_ wrong.

“Hunk, what are you doing?” Shiro finally asked on behalf of everyone.

“What do you mean?” He replied, genuinely confused.

“You're supposed to be the leg over there.”

“What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?”

“You yelled, ‘I'm a leg!’” Lance interrupted, exasperatedly.

“Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things,” Hunk said in his defence.

“Shiro’s the head,” Keith said, his patience already running thin.

“All the time?” Hunk said, hopefully.

“Let's just try it my way for now,” Shiro said, his voice forcefully even as he rubbed his temple.

“Okay, but next time I call head.”

Next thing everyone knew, the Lion’s were now in an actual _proper_ pyramid, and miraculously in the right order. Hunk and Lance were at the bottom, Keith and Pidge on top of them, and Shiro slowly lowering his own Lion to finish the pyramid off. 

“Ok. Arms and legs… and I'll form the head,” Shiro murmured to himself, concentrating hard. “Feel the bonds with your lions,” he said to everyone this time. “Now channel your energy into forming Voltron.”

Everyone shut their eyes, and mentally reached out for their lions. Everything went quiet, except the occasional, “focus, focus,” from Shiro, urging the team on. Even after a few minutes, that died out too, and there was nothing but a bunch of boys inside giant, mechanical lions that were situated into a cheerleader pyramid as they tried to embarrassingly tried to form the Defender of the Universe. And nothing was working.

“Is everyone bonding and focusing?” Shiro checked.

On cue, everyone opened their eyes and stopped trying, frustrated groans and pissed off expressions becoming visible on their faces. 

“Why was this so much easier before?” Lance asked to no one in particular.

Shiro sighed.

“Let's take a break,” he said.

Before they could go anywhere, though, Allura’s voice sounded throughout the lions.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help,” she said determinedly. “Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle.”

Everyone confirmed with their own answers, pushing her on and willing to listen to what she had to suggest. She knew more than them anyways.

“Perfect,” she smiled. “Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle’s defences. This should help!”

Maybe she said the wrong thing, or didn't know the exact definition to the word: ‘help’. Because she did almost the exact _opposite_ of that. 

The Castle’s particle barrier suddenly formed, and started shooting blasts at the lion’s almost immediately. The paladins only just had enough time to register what was going on, and the castle was actually _shooting_ at them. They all turned their lions in the other way and started screaming and running for their lives.

“Allura, what are you doing?” Keith yelled, horrified.

“Running a diagnostic test on the castle’s defences and inspiring you!” She replied, happily, and genuinely thinking this was helping them. “I believe in you, paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!”

“Forget this!” Lance yelled, appropriately fed up. “I'm heading back to the castle!”

He turned his lion right around, dodging the blasts the castle was shooting at him, and flew straight towards the particle barrier. He was expecting it to open up for him and let him inside (he was already thinking about the nice, hot, alien bath he could have and a comfy nap), but instead, the barrier did not open up and he crashed straight into it. He was propelled backwards from the sheer force of it.

“Please stop!” Hunk cried in panic. “Please! Have mercy on us!”

“You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you?” Allura replied seriously. “He's probably on his way right now to destroy us all!”

Through everyone’s screens, they saw Allura turn to something on her right, and press a few buttons. They couldn't see exactly what she was pressing, but did hear the virtual voice say “auto-lock-on engaged.”

With that, Allura logged off, probably going to have lunch while she accidentally killed her paladins.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“Are we at full power on condenser number five yet?” Allura asked Coran as they entered the east, minimised quarters of the Castle (they had many rooms in the castle like this one).

Coran looked at the small, running device in his hands and frowned.

“No, still just 84 percent,” he sighed.

Allura shared his disappointed expression, but it disappeared quickly once she saw the sight in front of her. Keith, Pidge and Hunk were sitting on the couches, looking quite worn out, whilst Lance was more dramatically spread out across it, huffing and puffing more than he should. Shiro was nowhere to be seen, however, if the paladins were all lying here, that could only mean one thing… 

“You did it!” Allura gasped, a euphoric smile displaying on her face. “You formed Voltron!”

“No,” Keith corrected, dashing her dreams straight away. “The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in.”

“What?” Allura snapped, quite suddenly (and scarily) pissed off.

“Oh, right,” Coran squeaked. “Sorry, Princess. I had to turn off the castle’s defenses to test the fire suppressors.”

Finally, Shiro emerged from his room, still in his uniform.

“What are you guys doing in here? We're not taking a break,” Shiro ordered, not mentioning why he was in his room before, and quite frankly, Allura was too angry to care.

“Shiro’s right. You should be training,” she said forcefully, as Hunk groaned like a first-class two year old.

“We've been training. When are we going back to Earth?” He said, missing that place more after that nightmare of what Allura called ‘training’.

“I'm not going back until I find my family,” Pidge said, sitting up and suddenly determined.

Everyone knew about that now. He figured Shiro must've filled Allura in about it privately, to avoid any sensitive questioning in the future, and judging how Allura and Coran had no reaction to his last comment, it looked like he guessed correctly. He also knew he had to tell Lance and Hunk about it sooner or later, and they were his best mates, and had felt guilty for long enough. So he had told them the night they defeated Sendak.

He told them together, because he felt that would be easier for all of them. Hunk raised an eyebrow and nodded thoughtfully, only to smile and part his shoulder reassuringly. He said something along the lines of: “don't worry, we’ll all save them from those ugly alien ghouls”, which made Pidge laugh gratefully.

Lance, on the other hand, was less subtle about his surprise. If you were to call it that. He gasped collectively, and yelled: “No way! So all this time, you were like, some kind of spy and this whole time you were on this whole mission to get your family back?! And you called yourself Pidge Gunderson instead of Holt? That's crazy, dude! I can't believe you didn't tell Hunk and I about it! Did you think we were going to rat you out?! Why would you think that?!”

Pidge sighed, long and sarcastically, and Lance suddenly realised he was talking all a bit too loud. For that reason alone, Pidge was half glad he was telling them _after_ they had left the Garrison. 

When he was going to tell them _everything_ about his identity, he wasn't sure. He didn't really need to now, anyways. It wasn't really important.

At least he hoped it wasn't.

“Guys,” Shiro called, dragging Pidge back to the present, “there won't be an Earth if we don't figure out how to fight Zarkon.”

“How are we going to fight?” Lance said, finally sitting up. “We can't even figure out how to form Voltron.”

“Well, I'm not surprised,” Coran said, speaking up, his tone telling everyone he was about to tell one of his great, unintentionally useless stories. “You know, the original paladins of Voltron fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of _yalmors_ linked at the ears,” he finished, making his pointed ears more so as he pulled on them to represent what he was talking about.

Lance (who was slightly glaring at Coran the whole time as he was telling his story), finally sighed after it was finished.

“Wow,” he marvelled sarcastically, then to suddenly (and dramatically) flop right back down on the couch. “Yeah, that's definitely not us.” 

“During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far. You'll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the training deck.”

The paladins (except for Shiro, of course, who was still standing), were all slumping miserably up until Coran mentioned their training deck. They all perked up at that.

“There's a training deck?” Hunk asked hesitantly, wondering if it was actually a torture chamber since their last training session classified as torture in his books.

Turns out, it was both.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Somewhere, at the same time, an old, hunched witch walked down a brightly lit corridor, the walls shining with luminous purple light. Her grey hair slipped from under her hood as she walked over to the monster she was ready to unleash. 

She walked into the chamber the creature was kept in, and spoke, her voice making her sound ancient but not the least bit frail.

“I think I have the opportunity you've been waiting for,” she said, her yellow eyes glowing evilly.

The creature growled in response, but knew better to attack the lady in front of it.

“How would you like to get your revenge against the Champion?” She asked, already knowing the answer though the creature was illiterate. 

His low growling spun into something of a satisfied snarl as the ugly thing’s face twisted into some sort of disfigured smile.

She grinned horribly too. She could already see the potential form it. Given its hateful essence, she could just power up her little project using that and a little magic, and send it after the inexperienced paladins in no time. They would be done for.

This is what she has been waiting for.

It's what they all have.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Coran turned his intercom on, and cleared his throat, ready to test it.

“Two, two, one, two,” he tried, looking from his window in the control box, down at the fully suited and refreshed paladins. 

They were standing in a circle, facing outwards and observing the large, empty room, probably wondering why it was so empty. However, they didn't comment on it, for they knew the types of hardcore routines the Alteans put them through. They weren't in the least bit ready, but hopefully they'll be given more instructions on what to do this time.

Spoiler alert: they weren't.

“Okay, listen up, guys,” Coran announced, once happy with his mic. “The paladin code demands you put your team members’ safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack.”

“Huh?” Keith whispered, and on cue, Lord behold, a swarm of drones emerged from two capsules on either side of the room. They were small, and they circled the paladins concerningly.

“It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Hunk asked, begging for someone to slow down. “What's going on?”

On cue, on the chink of Hunk’s armour near his forearm, a technological shield appeared. He gasped in response.

“Whoa,” he marvelled. “Did you guys get one of these?”

He looked around and, in fact, everyone had already activated their shields.

“Get ready,” Shiro warned. 

Right after, the drones started shooting, and instead of blocking with his shield, Hunk ducked from the oncoming blasts. Unfortunately for Pidge, he was right behind Hunk, and was the one who encountered the blasts. They weren't agonising, painful blasts, more like little stingers, but the blasts that knocked Pidge forwards a bit triggered the ground underneath him to open up and swallow him whole. Pidge screamed as he fell down through it.

“Protect you teammates,” Coran advised wisely, seeing the incident and knowing his input would help the paladins out way more (spoiler alert: it didn't). “Or no one will be there to protect you!”

And on cue, Hunk (who was cowering in fear) was shot and the floor swallowed him whole. And then there were three.

Shiro, Keith and Lance stepped back until they were all back-to-back, and they were actually doing quite a decent job. They blocked whatever blasts came towards them with their shields, and didn't move from there spot at all, therefore creating no space for the drones to shoot others.

“Time to increase intensity,” Coran decided.

Suddenly, the drones that were casually floating around them picked up speed, and were shooting at them from all different angles and areas at the same time, which tired the boys out very quickly.

Lance, who felt his brain hurt and his heart race for the third time that day, needed some comfort that he wasn't the only one who felt he was going to combust. He looked over at the person next to him, and communicated the only way he knew how to with him.

“You keeping up over there, Keith?” He asked, patronisingly (but secretly hoping Keith would say no).

“Just concentrate on keeping me safe,” Keith begged, his voice restrained and unbothered.

Lance scoffed, wanting to keep the banter going because it did make him feel less stressed out (he would never say that aloud, since Keith normally was the most annoying person he could think of) and would make him feel supremely better than Keith if he admitted weakness. 

“Me? I own this drill,” Lance mentioned, turning to look at the boy, whose face was scrunched up with concentration. “You're the one who needs to concentrate.”

Suddenly, since Lance was concentrating too much on _something else_ , the drones dropped to the ground and started shooting there. Shiro and Keith, who were actually concentrating, dropped to their knees too. Lance was caught off guard from this new change, and instinctively dodge the first blast, which hit poor Keith instead. Not too soon after, Lance was hit and swallowed in the ground too (due to his not-so-fast reaction skills) and Shiro followed him (not surprising, assuming he was the only paladin with no one to watch his back).

Coran, who was watching from his window, observed the mess below, and all he could do was groan and face-palm. They needed a lot of work, especially the Red and Blue paladins. So he already knew what the next activity could be.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Only a few minutes later, Lance was out on the training ground again. This time, by himself. He was in the centre of a holographic, digital maze. Suddenly, the maze disappeared, and Lance was left in the empty training room again. His emotions were a paradox as he felt confident but nervous at the same time. Whatever the case, he was going to prove himself. 

Who knows? Maybe he actually did a good job in the last training session that Coran wanted to see him perform again. Lance didn't blame him, he was amazing after all. 

“To form Voltron, you must trust in each other,” Coran explained to him. “This ancient paladin maze will teach you that trust. Your teammates can see the walls, but you cannot. So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock.”

Lance put his helmet on. Easy peasy. Hunk was his best friend who genuinely made him feel better, he was almost certain Pidge was smart enough to lead his dumb butt through and invisible, electric maze, and Shiro was definitely not someone to lead him straight into a wall. There were reasons why Lance looked up to him so much.

“Wait,” Lance stopped. “So who's guiding me through?”

Instead of an answer, he got this:

“Take two steps forward,” Keith said, into their intercom.

_Of course it was Keith_. 

Lance couldn't think of something that could bring his mood down more. He thought that maybe walking right into and electric shock wasn't as bad as having to work with him. Then again, Keith would probably lead Lance into a wall anyways, and make him look stupid. He had no reason not to (that's what Lance would do in his position).

Still, who was Lance if he wasn't going to complain about it first?

“Oh, no. Not Keith. Why does he get to be the man on the mic?” Lance whined, knowing it could've of been literally _anyone_ else.

“Now, just sit tight,” Coran reassured. “You'll get your turn.”

“Like I said,” Keith repeated (Lance could tell he wasn't too happy about this either), “take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps that direction.”

Lance huffed, and marched off angrily to the right. Almost immediately, he was electrocuted, and screamed when his whole body slammed into the maze.

“You did that on purpose!” Lance exclaimed accusingly, turning towards the controls window where he knew Keith would be looking down on him.

“You're not listening,” Keith sighed.

“You said, ‘turn right!’”

“But before that, I said ‘take two steps forward.’”

Lance legitimately growled with rage into his mic, knowing Keith making Lance look like a fool was the worst thing that could actually happen. But, he decided to give it one more try.

“Take two steps…” Lance murmured angrily to himself, as he did just that.

Next thing he knew, he was screeching again as the familiar shock and pain swept through his body and he jumped back, turning back to the window and stomping his foot.

“We're switching places right now!” He yelled.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Coran decided his next move was to send them outside, since he had given up on the training room. This was one of his old tricks. It was super dangerous, but he doubted anyone would actually perish. It was most likely no one will die.

Hopefully.

“You'll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with his Lion,” he said before he could think about his plan through too much.

The five Lions were flying in formation, past the point of sight (though Coran could spot them through the castle’s high-tech cameras), and they were flying high through the clouds of Arus.

“No problem,” Lance dismissed quickly (as he always did until he failed). “Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real.”

“Perfect! Then you won't have any issues with this exercise.”

Coran suspected his over-the-top confidence came from the fact that he embarrassed himself in the training grounds, and he failed in front of Keith too. He suspected Lance would try and use this exercise to try and one-up Keith (who had little to no interest on this whole ‘rivalry’ thing) again, and if he did, Coran couldn't stop him. He just hoped they all knew what they were doing.

“Everyone,” Coran demanded with flare, “put your lions into a nose dive!”

The paladins obliged, and turned their lions downwards, speeding towards the surface below. They were still in formation, and Coran silently wished it stayed that way.

“This is an expert-level drill you really shouldn't attempt until you've been flying for years,” Coran confessed, “but, uh, we're in a bit of a rush, so here we go!”

Coran passed up a screen that appeared near the statistical graphs, and pressed the large red icon on it.

“Activating training helmets,” he said.

He heard everyone scream or gasp from their intercoms as soon as he pressed it, especially Lance.

“Coran, what's happening?” Lance asked in a state of panic, trying to look around through the blackness that blindfolded him, but getting nowhere. The worst, most sickening feeling was that he could still feel his lion dropping. He was a good pilot but he wasn't _this_ good. “I can't see!” He exclaimed.

_Not so tough now_ , Coran thought silently.

“You must learn to see through the Lion’s eyes,” he explained. “The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the lion feels!”

“Mine feels scared!” Hunk whimpered, pulling away quite soon and balancing his lion in the air safely.

You might think that after the whole training incident, Coran’s explanations and warnings about how much more difficult this drill would be and Lance’s terror will pull Lance’s mind away from his competition with Keith.

Well, if you thought that, you were dead wrong.

“You still going, _Keith?_ ” He asked slyly into his mic, knowing every paladin (and Coran) could hear him, but knowing his words were only directed to one of them.

“You know it,” Keith replied, the same amount of cockiness in his voice. “You?”

They couldn't hear him, but far off inside the Altean headquarters, Coran let out a disappointed sigh. He already knew before it happened that the exercise was not going to go well for them.

“Going?” Lance scoffed at his answer. “I'm speeding up.”

On cue, Lance pushed down harder on his levers, flying out of formation and spinning towards the ground at a more faster rate.

“Oh, yeah?” Keith asked patronisingly (though secretly he was quite frustrated).

Keith decided to speed up right alongside Lance, both of them flying out of their previous formations to race each other.

Though they would never admit it to each other, both of their hearts were beating so fast, and they were absolutely terrified. It was worse waiting for the impact to come than actually feeling it.

Some time went by, it may have been only a minute but it felt like years to Keith and Lance. They both knew they were really high in the sky before they nose-dived down, but they also knew they had to hit or reach the ground at one point. 

As the seconds ticked by, Lance used his own state of panic, and hoped Keith was secretly feeling the same sort of urge to pull away as he did.

“Must be getting close,” Lance taunted, knowing talking calmed his nerves down a lot more, and also forgetting that everyone else could hear them too.

“Must be,” is all Keith said.

“You getting scared?” Lance grinned, hoping to god he was right (and also loving to tick off Keith).

“I'm not scared!” Keith shouted, his temper finally getting the better of him

The boys were both momentarily distracted from the task through their bickering, and since they were both distracted they crashed right into the dry terrain of sand and rock. When their lions hit the ground they caused dust and debris around them to fly everywhere, and ended up both half-buried in the sandy slope they landed in. 

The Blue Lion wiggled itself a bit and was released from its grainy restraints, only to tumble down the hill, Lance wincing and groaning in pain the whole way.

He thought he was going to be sick, however:

“I win,” he murmured to Keith through his weakness. 

Pidge, who was holding still zooming downwards next to Shiro, heard the argument with Keith and Lance and gulped. That wasn't the only thing he heard either.

“What was that noise?” He asked, his fear giving way. “Did you guys crash?”

Before anyone could answer, Pidge pulled away, not wanting to risk it. He tried to fly away, but crashed into some nearby mountain in the process. That meant he was close to the ground, and he wasn't regretting pulling away in the slightest. Surely, there would be another way to connect with their lions. A way that was less risky.

Now, only Shiro stood alone.

He had been silent the whole time, blocking out everything around him and just focusing.

_You must learn to see through the Lion’s eyes. Feel what the lion feels!_

He concentrated, his only mental strength focusing on doing just that. Slowly, but surely, there was a low growling noise, and Shiro knew that wasn't coming from his Lion, but from _within himself_.

Once opening his eyes again, he was greeted with darkness, but not the blind type of darkness he saw when Coran blindfolded him, but peaceful, full darkness that only left two objects in his view. Him, and his Lion. 

And Shiro knew he wasn't just himself, and he never will be anymore. The Lion was now within him, seeing what he sees, feeling what he feels, thinking what he thought. And the same went for Shiro. And when he opened his eyes for real this time, he could see, but it wasn't through the eyes of himself.

He was tumbling straight towards the ground at a worrying speed, but he didn't pull away. His hands gripped the controls, waiting for exactly the right time. And, just before crashing head-first into the surface just below him, he pulled up and blasted along the desert land. He flew past mountains and under archs and around other rocky landforms with no sweat.

“I think I'm getting this,” he mentioned on his intercom, and could just about detect Coran’s proud smile from the Castle.

“Excellent, Shiro!” Coran exclaimed, overjoyed that at least _one_ of them got it.

Shiro grinned as he pulled his lion up and headed back towards the castle.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“The most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing only: Voltron,” Coran explained to the five paladins who were all back in the training room. “Everything else has to fade away.”

This time, they were all sitting in a circle together, crossed legs and closed eyes. They each had a linking Altean device that picked up what said person was thinking, and granted access to those around who had the same devices around their heads too. That being said, whatever the paladins were thinking about, not only were the others be given access to see what it was, but a picture of it would appear too.

Coran hoped this was a way they could learn to trust one another by also doing some sort of meditation drill. He also prayed that Keith and Lance wouldn't start their nonsense again.

“This technique will be essential every time to form Voltron,” he continued, then shifting his voice into something more softer and calming (in his opinion). “So, _relax,_ and open your mind. No walls, no secrets between paladins.”

He saw Keith conjure up a picture of a small, peculiar-looking house in the middle of nowhere, looking quite beat up and run-down. Coran assumed that's where Keith lived and he couldn't imagine living in something so lonely and mediocre. However, he silently marvelled in wonder at how strange houses were on Earth. He hoped he would get to see them one day.

He saw Lance create a picture of him and many, many other smiling people. Coran assumed they were his friends, and Lance was wishing to gain his popularity or something, until he realised all of them resembled one another in one way or another. The lady next to Lance had his cheeky grin, and the small boy on his back had his nose. The old man had Lance’s eyes, and Coran remembered how hard it must be for him. 

Hunk’s (and this was quite typical of him) first thought was food. It immediately came up in front of him, and Coran immediately knew it was human food, because he did not recognise all of the colours and patterns. Altean food was very simple-looking, whilst these human platters looked quite complicated. Well, where humans lacked Altean architecture, Alteans seemed to lack their edible presentations.

Pidge, to Coran’s dismay, was looking quite troubled and lost, as his face was all scrunched up. A glitchy image of what looked like him in Garrison uniform, in front of the Garrison, standing next to a girl that resembled him quite a lot. But as he was grinning shyly, the girl was beaming brightly, with long chestnut hair and no glasses. It still seemed suspicious to Coran that Pidge was trying quite hard to stop thinking about it.

Shiro (and Coran wasn't sure why he was surprised by this) thought of the Garrison. It had high walls steely towers of white, and even though it looked quite better than Keith’s home, Coran still couldn't help but feel just a little bit underwhelmed by it. It looked too serious and unwelcoming, there was no colour or warmth. Besides, didn't the humans know that white could easily rust unless they use Ramstonian jewels?

“Come on, everyone,” Coran urged, “clear everything. Now, focus on forming your Lions. Bring your Lions together and form Voltron.”

Suddenly, everyone’s thoughts began to form on their allocated lions, each of them floating towards the centre. Well, everyone's except Pidge, who was still trying to get the thought of him and the girl out of his mind.

“Keep your minds open, work together. Good!” He exclaimed as the four lions greeted each other in the middle. However, they couldn't form Voltron with just four Lions. Coran still had hope, that this may be the first training exercise where all of them exceeded in. “Keep focusing! Only one to go!”

“Pidge,” Keith demanded, slightly annoyed, “stop thinking of your girlfriend!”

“I wasn't!” Pidge snapped back, immediately. Then his mind decided to step back and take a reroute for an excuse. “Hunk was rooting around in my head!”

“I thought we were open,” Hunk pouted. “You can look in my head hole.”

“Everyone has to be able to look in everyone's head holes!” Coran grumbled, incredibly disappointed that they were _that_ close and blew it.

Still, he wasn't to give up on them just yet.

“Clear your minds!” He yelled, signalling for them to try it again.

Everyone (and this time, it was everyone) thought of their lions, who slowly made their way to the middle, along with the Green Lion, though Pidge’s face was scrunched up and sweaty with effort. 

“Good,” Coran grinned. “Almost there. Now, form Voltron.”

They then slowly started to assemble Voltron. One leg attached to the torso, a Red arm fitting satisfyingly into its joint, another arm about to join its retrospected area…

“Yes!”

Coran seemed to of celebrated too soon. Pidge’s thoughts became muddled again and the Green Lion had switched to him with the girl again. 

“Pidge!” Lance whined, as frustrated as the rest of the paladins, but nowhere near as frustrated as Pidge felt.

“I'm done with this!” Pidge yelled, throwing his mental linker onto the ground, breathing heavily and standing up. His eyes burned with rage and his glasses fogged up, but he was too mad to even notice it. 

“Look,” he started, glaring at each paladin who sat in shocked silence before him, “I don't like everyone grubbing around in my head!”

“Oh, come on, Pidge, we're starting to get the hang of this,” Shiro begged, hoping to sit him down and actually get the group to complete at least _one_ exercise together.

“I'm just…” Pidge looked around, and then realised he didn't have enough energy to be mad anymore. It wasn't them he was mad at anyways. It was himself. “I'm just tired, okay?”

There was a silence, and everyone could see Pidge’s fierce posture sag and his eyes cast downwards, and even though none of them said anything, they realised it wasn't just his fatigue that was getting to him. There was more to it.

“Okay,” Shiro said, finally. “Let's take a break.”

A few ticks later, Coran was passing cooled water around for everyone to sip on, and they all looked quite grateful for it. Even Pidge looked more relaxed.

“You have been working hard,” Coran admitted to all of them. “Maybe it's time to relax a little.”

Everyone grinned at him, but the fun immediately died when Allura stepped into the training room.

“What are you doing lying around?” Allura snapped, putting her hands on her hips and glowering at all of them. Even the Altean mice on her shoulders twitched uncomfortably. “You're supposed to be training!”

“Just resting a bit,” Coran explained, whilst Keith sucked his straw moodily, sending dead looks Allura’s way. “You know, you can't push too hard.”

“What do you mean, ‘can't push too hard?’” Allura exclaimed, probably never hearing that phrase in her life. “Get up, you lazy lumps! It's time you faced the Gladiator!”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Allura got them up and moving much faster than anyone thought she could. Turns out, no one was in the mood to argue with her. Plus, she had a pretty mean death glare. 

Now, they all stood in the training room, their backs faced each other in a wide circle. Their weapons were drawn, just as Coran had instructed them to do, and their eyes darted around the room, awaiting this ‘Gladiator’. 

“In order to defeat a the Gladiator, five paladins must fight as one,” Coran told them.

Above them, a strange hissing sound could be heard. They all turned their attention to the centre of their circle, and on the room above, a trap door opened and out jumped what they will know as ‘The Gladiator’. 

It was a robot. A really fast, slick and fancy one at that. It was mostly white, but also dark blue and gold, and in some areas of armour, it showed the famous Altean blue. It landed stealthily and easily onto the floor below it, and it held a staff that sizzled with electricity. When it looked up, the first thing it caught sight of was Hunk, whose legs were already quaking. 

Without a moment’s hesitation, it started sprinting towards Hunk, who reacted a little slowly to it. He started shooting aimlessly at the drone, but since his weapon was a bit heavy and wasn't meant for speed, the Gladiator could easily dodge his blasts and jumped to the opposite direction. 

Hunk, again, slow with his reaction time, accidentally started firing at Keith, who only had just enough time to activate his shield to protect himself.

With the drone’s speed, it easily got behind Hunk’s back when he wasn't looking, and tripped him over, sending him on his back. The drone then poked Hunk lightly with his staff, sending an electric shock through him (Hunk had started screaming before the shock too).

Pidge thought this was a good time to attack with the drone’s attention diverted, but as he ran up to it, the drone had quickly turned its attention on him. He swiped with his blade, only to meet the robot’s staff. One thing Pidge had forgot to take into account, was how much faster and physically stronger the robot was compared to him.

The robot fought with Pidge, who was trying to block with his weapon, but every time staff hit blade, he was pushed backwards from the brute force of it. Soon, the robot had gotten Pidge off-balanced and used his staff to propel Pidge and sended him flying onto Hunk’s weakened body. Both of them lied on the floor in defeat.

Lance was next, running around it and shooting at the drone, trying to keep his distance. Lance did not expect the drone to shield itself with its staff with ease and speed. In no time, Lance was fighting in close-combat, something that was not his strong suit (especially when his only weapon was a gun).

By this time, Keith decided that the crew needed a little help, and started charging up behind the robots back whilst it was focused on Lance. However, Lance, not being able to hold off the Gladiator without being so close, had his weapon skidding in the distance as the drone knocked it out of his hand. He couldn't even glance at it long before he was knocked in the head with the drone’s staff, and as Keith reared his sword back, the Gladiator immediately turned towards him, and fought him off before anyone could react. It turned back to Lance and stabbed its staff into his stomach, picking him up with speed and strength and sending him crashing into Keith, who was also thrown backwards. Turned out, they both got electrocuted and were sprawled on top of each other, breathing heavily.

Shiro ran towards the Gladiator and activated his hand, and as the drone came towards him he suddenly had a flash of past trauma come to him.

Galra soldiers, they were coming to him. No, they were coming _for_ him. And they weren't coming with anything good. He wasn't going to be the same person he was after what they will do to him…

“Shiro, are you okay?” Keith grunted, snapping Shiro out of his petrified daze.

Shiro looked up just in time to see Keith’s worried, dark eyes set on him, as he held back the Gladiator from him, even though his whole body was weak from before.

The drone didn't give Shiro enough time to answer, and it knocked Keith off his feet and pushed him into Shiro, tripping him over in the process and leaving them both defenceless on the floor.

Suddenly, the drone shut down and fell, totally switched off. Allura walked up behind it, her face one of frustration. 

“That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child!” She exclaimed, somehow making the paladins feel worse than they already did feel. “You're not even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon!”

She stared down at all of them with searing intensity that they all would've crumbled to the ground if they hadn't already been on it. However, they didn't have that much mental energy to be disappointed or guilty with themselves. Everything just happened so quickly, and it was all so mind-blowing, and they all were expected to be trusted, best mates when in reality, some of them had only just met each other a few days ago. They were just really, really exhausted. 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“Ahoy, young paladins,” Coran exclaimed skipping over to the table where everyone was seated upon. 

The paladins were all seated at the large dining table in the castle, platters of green goo (that kind of looked like jelly) set out before them. They all believed that this is what Altean food looked like, but none of them had no idea where they got it since Coran and Allura had just woke up from a 10,000 year slumber. However, everyone was too tired to ask, and they really didn't need a long, very-detailed story from Coran right now. They just wanted to eat. At least the fork and spoons looked the same.

“I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food,” Coran told them, twirling his orange moustache. “After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement and twice on the astral conflux!”

No one on the table knew what that meant, and no one bothered to ask.

“Smells great, Coran,” Shiro said politely. “Thanks.”

As if that was the order to start digging in, everyone pulled their seats up and reached over for their meal. Before they could get anywhere near it though, Coran whipped out a remote and triumphantly slammed a button on it. Before the paladins could fully process what was going on, their wrists were bound with a metal magnet, that immediately connected with the other paladin’s wrist together. After a few blinks of confusion, they came to their senses about what was going on. Each paladin was chained to each other.

“Hold the phone!” Lance burst in outrage, after taking a glance of him and Keith’s conjoined wrists.

“I saw a lot of solid individual performances today,” Coran started, ignoring all the glares from the paladins, “but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day.”

Hunk looked at his restrains, and tried to pull away from the one that tied him and Lance’s wrist together. No use, for the restraints just pulled them back towards each other. He tried again with him and Shiro’s, and still no go. He then groaned in frustration, and narrowed his eyes at Coran.

“Coran,” he said, his voice full of forced calm, “I want you to think about what you're doing.”

“Oh, this one's a classic,” Coran replied. “You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!”

Everyone groaned in response, not at all sharing his excitement.

Nevertheless, Coran didn't look like he was going to let the paladins off the hook, so they started to _attempt_ this teamwork exercise (and by the time they actually stopped whining and tried it, Allura was also eating the food too).

Hunk grabbed a spoonful of food, and slowly brought it towards his mouth, but just before he could actually feed himself, Lance’s arm jerked suddenly, and sent it slapping him in the face.

“Ow!” He cried, not being able to wipe the goo off his face.

“Sorry,” Lance said genuinely, trying to attempt feeding Hunk again.

This time, Hunk grabbed another spoonful of the food and brought it more forcefully and quicker to his mouth, accidentally sending Lance’s hand with it. Instead of biting down on the meal, he bit Lance’s hand.

“Ew!” Lance gasped, instinctively pulling his arm back with such speed that the goo on Hunk’s spoon went flying right onto the floor behind them. 

They tried it again, this time Lance lay his hand next to his plate, but accidentally pulled Keith’s hand too, which landed straight into his food. Lance and Keith both seemed to realise this. Keith didn't pull his hand away too quickly in fear of ripping Lance’s body in two (and from the forceful way Hunk was desperately trying to feed himself on the other side, he wouldn't be surprised if such a similar thing were to occur). Lance took Keith's slight hesitation the wrong way though, and narrowed his eyes at him.

“Oh, nice,” Lance retorted. “You defiled my food goo!”

“It's your fault!” Keith snapped back. “This is ridiculous.”

Allura, who was quietly eating on the opposite side of the table, growled to herself and set her spoon down. Honestly, it < em>was ridiculous. It was ridiculous how after all this training and pushing that they _still_ couldn't work as a team without an outburst.

“Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?” She asked rhetorically.

“Can't you just give us a break?” Shiro reasoned, turning to the Princess. “Everyone's been working really hard today.”

“Yeah!” Keith exclaimed, suddenly standing up and glaring at the Alteans. “We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like… like…”

“Like a bunch of toy prisoners!” Lance enthused with passion, his fists in the air.

“Yes!” Keith confirmed, his eyes wide. “Thank you, Lance!”

“You do not yell at the Princess!” Coran burst at the two boys, flabbergasted.

“Oh, the princess of what?” Pidge challenged, backing up Keith and Lance. “We're the only ones out here and she's no princess of ours!”

In a flash, Pidge's head was covered in food goo, and everyone cringed as the sticky stuff slumped down onto his lap slowly. They turned to see who had launched it, and saw that the offender was in fact (and unsurprisingly), Allura, who had her eyes trained on the young, Green paladin dangerously.

Silence full of tension and bottled anger settled between the Alteans and humans, but soon, Keith was the one to break it.

“Go loose, Pidge!” He called out to the boy next to him as he grabbed his platter and flung it at the Princess in rage.

Allura’s eyes widened as the plate came spiralling towards her, but Coran stepped in front of her and swung his dishcloth at it, blocking her. With his other hand, he had been holding a whole, giant spoon of the goo, and threw it at all the paladins, smattering them all in it. 

Hunk shook his head (like how a dog does when it tries to dry itself) in an attempt to get the goo out of his face, and grinned at the aliens like a maniac.

“Oh, it's on now,” he said, only to slam his face headfirst into the plate of goo, slurp up some of that lime-coloured goo until his cheeks puffed out. He then slammed his hands on his face and the goo came squirting out, also smothering the Alteans now. The Alteans grunted and scowled in response, then to grab the other platters of goo and start firing at the humans.

And at that point, the food war of Altean vs Humans began.

They hid behind chairs and used their own arms and armour for cover as the shower of goo attacked them. And after that they all had one objective: revenge. Shiro and Hunk threw some goo onto the floor, tripping Coran over, and the plate of goo he was holding skidded right next to Pidge. Pidge and Keith made eye-contact, and seemed to make a silent agreement when they picked the platter up with their conjoined hands and face planted Allura with it, which made them laugh. The laugh was soon cut short when Coran appeared behind them, dumping a whole bucket-load of the goo on them (seriously, though, where do they get all this goo?). Hunk used his little, mouth-squirt-weapon thingy to attack on the Alteans again, and Keith and Lance managed to roll up a large ball of the goo, which they picked up and flung at the Alteans (and missed, but it was still quite funny for them). They went on for more and more, neither team wanting to give up, until they were all out of energy and smothered head-to-toe in Altean food goo.

They all gasped, but they continued to stand, aware that they could keep going. Allura collapsed in her chair, breathing heavily, signalling that the battle was over. The humans had won.

The paladins turned to each other in glee, but upon realising how stupid they looked (Pidge being blind as a bat with so much goo on his glasses, Keith holding a spoon like he was ready to spank someone with it, Lance being squished in the middle between Keith and Hunk and trying to slither out from between them, Hunk with his cheeks full, ready to start squirting at the Princess and her advisor again, and Shiro, who had a beard full of slime), they burst out laughing.

“Enough! Do you see what you're doing?” Allura shrieked from her chair and causing everyone to grow silent. She then lifted her head, grinning madly. “You're finally working together as one!” 

“Hey, she's right!” Keith affirmed turning to Lance and sharing the same smile as Allura.

“I actually don't hate you right now,” Lance said, flashing Keith a toothy grin and being more surprised at that than anything else.

“You guys thinking what I'm thinking?” Hunk asked excitedly, nudging in. 

“Let's go form Voltron!” Shiro encouraged.

“Yeah!” They all exclaimed in unison, including the Alteans.

“Actually, I was thinking dessert,” Hunk shrugged. “But yeah! Let's do it!”

They all tried to run off in excitement to their designated Lions, but they somehow seemed to forget that they were all tied at the wrists, and they fell down on top of each other.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Once all in their Lions (Coran finally let them go after a good laugh), they met in front of the castle, and everyone could already feel the energy coming off of the Lions.

“Everyone ready to do this?” Shiro asked.

“Roger that!” Pidge confirmed.

“It's on!” Lance exclaimed.

“Yes, sir!” Keith nodded.

“I was born ready!” Hunk whooped.

“Then let's go!” Shiro ordered, his Lion roaring, as if commanding its own troop.

“Yeah!” They all shouted as they flew in formation.

And it was the same feeling they all felt on the battlefield against Sendak that day. The rush of their beating hearts, the transformation that they could _feel_. The connection between all the Lions and all the paladins, and the complete _wholeness_ of it all, and that everything in that moment was forgotten, except the team and the Lions. In that short moment, that's all the were familiar with.

And then up stood the mighty _Voltron_. Standing victoriously and towering over the vast lands of Arus.

Allura and Coran smiled to each other.

“Told you I could get them to do it,” Allura said, nudging Coran playfully. “They just needed a common enemy.”

“It's true. Like the old proverb says,” Coran marvelled, crossing his arms and looking up at Voltron with a faint smile, “ _‘A man can be driven to do anything, if a beautiful woman is just really, really mean to him.’_ ”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“Man, that was so cool!” Lance cheered, punching a fist in the air, his midnight blue eyes twinkling with childlike excitement. “I'm so charged up, I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep tonight.”

“Not me,” Keith said, grinning and coming over to sit down next to Lance on the sofa. “When my head hits the pillow, I'm going to be lights out.”

“I just want you to know,” Hunk said, suddenly squeezing in between Keith and Lance, “when I realised we were in Voltron, we're brothers, man!”

Hunk’s overwhelming affection caused him to both grab Keith and Lance by the shoulders and bring them to him, giving them both a huge bear hug. Lance smiled at Hunk amusingly, but Keith looked quite uncomfortable, as if he had no idea what was going on.

“You know?” Hunk asked for clarification. “Like, we're totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way.”

Hunk seemed to also communicate this to Pidge and Shiro too, who were sitting in the opposite side of the sofa. They both smiled as Shiro patted Pidge’s shoulder with pride.

“I love you guys,” Hunk sighed. 

“G-forces mess with your head a little bit?” Keith asked playfully.

“Yeah,” Hunk admitted grinning sheepishly but still keeping his arms around the two boys, “maybe a little. I don't know. It's been a tough few days.”

With that, everyone stood up to go to their designated rooms, ready to hit the hay and get some shut eye from this absolutely _exhausting_ day. However, Shiro paused, as he saw Pidge still remain where he was seated.

“Going to bed, Pidge?” Shiro asked him.

“In a minute,” he answered.

“Good work today. We're really coming together,” he complimented, then to walk away and leave Pidge to his own devices.

Pidge put on a brave smile, but as soon as Shiro walked away, he let it drop. 

Truth was, he should've felt as euphoric as everyone else, but he didn't. He didn't feel like he achieved much at all. Sure, they formed Voltron, and that was amazing and all, but even in doing so, he was only doing it for one reason, and that reason was different to everyone else’s. His objective had always been to find his father and brother, and becoming the Green paladin didn't change that at all. If anything, it solidified it. Made him have hope that he could find them quicker. But as soon as he formed Voltron he knew the war machine was destined for something greater than him and his family. And that scared him, because now, Team Voltron was his _team_ now. Hunk was right, they _were brothers_ , but that made Pidge’s heart break more, because he knew he couldn't handle this much longer. He had to decide whether he was to give up everything for his family (who may not even be alive for all he knew, but he wouldn't tolerate such a thought), or do what was right for the larger number. And as much as he wanted to choose the first option, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. Besides knowing their disappearance had something to do with the Galra, Pidge was nowhere near close to finding Matt and Sam. And he had no idea what his next move would be either.

His eyes burned as he pulled out a crumpled photograph. The same image he couldn't stop thinking about in the training room. The same one that prevented him from truly connecting with the others. The girl, the boy, the Garrison. It was all there. 

His heart ached and he was reminded again: he had to find them.

He had to bring back his family.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Somewhere, far away but not too far, the Emperor of the Galra sat atop his throne, his wife by his side, as he glared out at the space full of potential and pain ahead of him, and focused on the large, moving, Galra pod being released into it. 

“This beast will allow us to destroy the paladins,” he said in his rough, sinister tone.

The pod, filled with only agony and harm to others, or specifically, harm to his most biggest desire, blasted off, becoming smaller and smaller as it crept towards their main objective. The monster was indescribably powerful, but full of thick, dark hatred. And that, was the most fearful thing about it.

Zarkon took a deep breath.

“And then Voltron will be ours.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> It's getting to the end of the year and it's hecking busy, so I'm terribly sorry about the long waits (though I'm always posting monthly). I will try to post more frequently, though novelising takes way more time than expected! But I do know by this rate I'll never finish the series, so I will try my best to be less lazy.
> 
> Also, the last season of Voltron is nearly out and I cannot wait (actually I can)! I'm absolutely terrified, and if I don't post before then, wish me luck! I also wish you luck too!
> 
> Anyways, even though this episode was more of the humorous ones, it was still quite important since it legit developed all of their relationships (especially Keith and Lance, because even I forgot how extra they can be). There were some POVs with the Galra too, because I also felt y'all should know where they're going on with too, not be caught out-of-the-blue with some random attacks. There were also POVs with Coran, because (in my opinion), he's an amazing character who needs more spotlight and is way too underrated!
> 
> Gotta go, but I love you and thanks so much for reading!  
> Yanna xoxo


	5. S1E3: "Return of the Gladiator"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge continues his hunt for his lost family. Shiro remembers a specific arena fight that made him popular among fellow prisoners of Zarkon. Allura gets introduced to the locals of Arus. Hunk saves Lance and Keith from a _‘traditional’_ Altean meal made by the one and only Coran. All the while, the Galra unleash a new, vicious and vengeful invention at Team Voltron, and it's anything short of a monstrosity.

“Great job training today, guys,” Shiro enthused as him, Keith, Lance and Hunk stepped into the empty dining room. “We're really getting the hang of Voltron.”

“Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship?” Lance bragged to Keith, crossing his arms as he raised an eyebrow. “Must've been like a mile!”

“Yeah, that'll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match,” Keith replied, deadpan.

“Hey, I did something cool, and you can't handle it. I get it,” Lance grinned knowingly.

“Your kick ruined our balance. We fell.”

“That falling part was Hunk’s fault!” Lance said quickly as Keith walked away.

“Hey!” Hunk exclaimed from the table, as he and Shiro were already seated.

“All right,” Shiro called in his _‘father’_ voice, “save your energy for fighting Zarkon.”

As they got comfortable on the table, Coran emerged from the doors carrying a covered platter of something unbeknownst to them. As soon as Coran saw the paladins, he grinned widely, though most of his smile was covered by his moustache.

“Hello, guys!” Coran greeted. “How was the Voltron workout?”

“We're getting there,” Shiro answered. “Are you and Allura almost done fixing the castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus.”

“Just about,” he said, putting the platter down and revealing its contents. “In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you’re worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient paladin lunch!”

Behold, it looked indescribably horrid. It was a murky green, sloppy sphere in the middle, with what looked like, fat, pale, _alive_ slugs protruding off of it. Not to mention, the _stink_ that the paladins all inhaled. It was disgusting, to say the least.

Shiro looked at it with such shock that Alteans could eat such a thing. Lance covered his nose and mouth and shut his eyes, wishing for it to go away. Keith just stared at it through dead eyes (and probably internally screaming on the inside). Whilst Hunk just looked up and glared at Coran through disappointed eyes.

“Coran,” he started, “you just got me hooked on the goo and now you're switching it up?”

“This is packed with nutrients,” Coran answered, oblivious to the paladins’ reaction.

“Oh, it smells disgusting!” Hunk exclaimed.

“I know! That's how you know it's healthy!”

“Coran, we’re on a planet with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever this thing is. A tuber?” Hunk stated as he pulled out a plant from nowhere, that had dark, nutty cylinders growing from the centre. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to head back up to the kitchen to spice things up.”

With that, Hunk walked away, the weird plant in hand.

“Where's Pidge?” Shiro asked, finally.

“He's probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon,” Coran said, taking a bite of one of those slug-like things (that had some light pink and fizzy substance within it). “They'll all be waking soon in the infirmary.”

Shiro got up, and decided he should go check on Pidge. Probably to offer him some support, because none of this could be easy on him.

Before he could move, Coran stabbed a slug and shoved it in Shiro’s face, grinning at him.

“Open the hatch!” Coran said, obviously wanting Shiro to eat it. “Food lion coming in!”

With that, Coran made the terribly embarrassing noise as he imitated an airplane (or a Voltron Lion) zooming into Shiro’s mouth. Shiro cringed.

“No,” Shiro said quickly, looking down at the slimy thing, and slyly making his way past Coran. “Just… no.”

“You don't know what you're missing!” He shouted at Shiro as he walked out.

With Shiro gone, Coran suddenly turned to Lance and Keith, who were very quietly sitting next to each other. On other circumstances, Coran would've been proud, but he had already come to the conclusion that Keith and Lance could work very well together if they had a common enemy. Who knows? Maybe this would be another training drill for them to boost their relationship.

He started making his way towards the boys, who were already scrambling up from their chairs and trying to escape through the nearest exits.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

As Shiro approached the infirmary, he couldn't stop all of the thoughts running through his head. Why did that alien know his name? Why did his nickname, _‘The Champion’,_ rattle him so much? And did they really know where Matt and Sam were?

He tried to recollect his memories for the millionth time, but there was no luck. Every time he felt close to remembering something, it disappeared again in less than a second. He still had some flashes of memory, but they were like shards of broken glass. They didn't fit together, and that just made him even more confused.

He walked in on Pidge sitting on the floor, his foot tapping the tiles nervously as a petrified look haunted his face. It made Shiro's chest ache a bit.

“You’re as anxious as me,” Shiro said, as Pidge snapped his head up to look at him.

The aliens were still in their pods, but Coran said they wouldn't be long before they came out. He hoped he could get some answers out of them with Pidge. Information about the rest of the Kerberos crew, and himself as a prisoner of the Galra. They looked terrified when Shiro approached them to set them free, but also treated him with respect. It was weird all the way round… 

“These aliens we saved know something about my family. They have to!” Pidge informed, casting a glance at the nearest one in the pod, as if he had something to prove. 

“I hope so,” was all Shiro could answer with.

“They recognised you, didn't they? They called you _Champion_. What does that even mean?”

_As if Shiro needed reminding._

“I don't know,” he replied, honestly. “I can't remember very much from that time. But the way those guys looked at me when we freed them… I don't know if I want to find out.”

Just then, the pods started opening, one by one. Each alien regained consciousness, and soon their focus settled on the two paladins also in the room. It didn't take much predicting to guess what they wanted. And after some consolable words and small talk, warm Altean broth and blankets were passed around to the former prisoners to make them feel at home. 

“So, how long were you held captive by Zarkon?” Pidge started, asking the older alien (the one who had called Shiro: _Champion_ ). 

“Some for years. Decades, maybe,” the alien answered, solemnly. “It's hard to tell. Time becomes a blur.”

“Then you must of been there when my dad and brother arrived,” Pidge concluded, immediately getting to the point. “Sam and Matt Holt?”

“I never knew their names,” he said, looking up at Pidge, “but I certainly remember the other two Earthlings that arrived with _Champion_.”

The alien then turned to Shiro, and Shiro was staring right back at him with a troubled expression.

“ _Champion,_ ” he tried out. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“You really don't remember? Unbelievable,” the alien stated, his eyes widening. “You were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the ring. You defeated an infamous Galra gladiator known as Myzax. That was the day you earned the name _Champion_. I was there, as was the young Earthling.”

Pidge’s focus suddenly became all trained on the aliens words, and Shiro’s memory flickered with recognition. Loud crowds. Purple arenas. Screams of agony. A push, a shove, a scared look and a daring move, the roars from different aliens, all foreign and filling up Shiro's clouded senses.

“We were all prisoners, forced to fight for the entertainment of Zarkon,” the alien went on. “Slaughter awaited us all. This ‘Matt’, was the first of us sent to fight. But fate had other plans.”

Shiro could remember it now, given a bit more information he actually might be able to recall the whole memory. Pidge was staring at the alien with wide eyes, looking like he wanted to strangle the answer out of him if he didn't spit out what happened to his brother soon. The alien inhaled a big breath, let it out, and then slowly made eye contact with Shiro again, as if the next part was going to be hard to say.

“You were so thirsty for blood,” the alien said to Shiro slowly, “you injured your fellow Earthling.”

Pidge’s eyes widened in horror. Shiro knotted his eyebrows in confusion. Before he could process what the alien had just said, Pidge rounded on him, furiously.

“You attacked my brother? Why?” He demanded.

He was _so close_. He could've sworn the memory was there, but as soon as the alien said he attacked Matt, it was gone. Why would Shiro ever do that? Matt was a sweet, innocent, adorkable young guy, and Shiro had always considered him a friend. He was his teammate. _Why_ would Shiro attack him? For bloodshed? He didn't think so.

“No,” he concluded, though his unsure voice didn't make him sound very convincing. “It can't be true.”

“I was there,” the alien assured him. “We all were.”

“After my brother was injured, where was he taken?” Pidge asked before Shiro could reply.

“I know not,” the alien said.

“I don't believe it,” Shiro interrupted, refusing to let that go. How could he ever bring harm to Matt _on purpose?_ “There's got to be more to the story. I couldn't have hurt my friend.”

This was all quite insane, yet Shiro's mind worked fast and an idea soon dawned on him.

“Wait. That ship we were held captive on crash-landed on this planet,” he explained, slowly walking out of the infirmary as he said this. “They'll have logs of prisoners, some information.”

“I'm coming with you!” Pidge exclaimed immediately, before Shiro could even tell him where he was going (though it was quite obvious).

Pidge grabbed Shiro’s hand and basically _yanked_ him out of the infirmary, and to Sendak’s crashed ship. He only slowed down later because he realised he had no idea where it was, and Shiro led the way from then on. 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

Hunk had come to Lance and Keith's rescue.

With Shiro and Pidge gone, Hunk had returned from his kitchen with three bowls of other aesthetically pleasing Altean snacks. One was filled with ripe, peached fruits that glowed with freshness, and Keith and Lance could already smell the sweetness coming off it. Another had some sort of gleaming meat accompanied with berries and a golden honey to balance the flavour. The last bowl was holding mixed nuts and spices that was drizzled on top a sparkly, fluffy substance. 

Needless to say, it looked much more appetising then Coran’s dish, and Keith and Lance were starving, so they didn't need to think twice before they dug in to all dishes like a pack of ravenous animals. If it were possible, the plates tasted _better_ than it looked, and it dawned upon them that Hunk had a very gifted talent for this.

Hunk’s proud smile was proof that he also knew of his unspoken passion.

“They like the paladin lunch,” Allura marvelled, stepping into the dinning room to stand beside her advisor.

“I don't want to talk about it,” Coran said, moodily.

“I just got the final nebulon booster working,” Allura informed, deciding to change the subject. “We should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon.”

Just as she said those words, the alarms started to blare loudly, causing urgent, red lighting around the room. The paladins stood up, attentive and ready for orders (but not before Lance could finish his spoonful of wild, Altean berries).

Allura grimaced. 

It couldn't be the Galra. Surely not. It had been only a couple of days since their last attack and surely the Galra couldn't regroup so suddenly. Unless they were far more powerful than she anticipated. But besides, she didn't think the Galra would attack so recklessly. If it were anything, they wouldn't send something as flashy as another battleship (considering how that failed last time). They would send something silent and deadly and not likely to trigger the castle alarms so suddenly. 

Despite her hesitations, Allura brought up the screen of the front of the castle with a swipe of her hand to see what the fuss was about. The screen zoomed onto a tiny (about smaller than a regular humans _’foot-to-calf’_ ), pudgy alien with ram horns, trying to dash stealthily from rock to rock outside the front door of the castle. It held a small, stone sword (that was quite blunt), and its little tail wagged out determinedly from behind him.

“What is that?” Keith asked as the little thing popped it's head over the rock.

“I don't know what it is,” Allura confessed, eyeing the small thing with relief. “Maybe it's a local Arusian.”

The thing popped from the rock again, and ran up to another rock close by, yelling all the way. He then repeated the action again and again until he was right up near the entrance.

“He's approaching the castle,” Allura narrated, as the thing jumped out again, screaming and waving his sword madly going to the next rock.

“Aw,” Hunk sighed, looking at the little thing’s clueless face.

“Doesn't look too dangerous,” Lance shrugged, reading everyone's minds except Keith's.

“You never know,” Keith muttered, glaring at the tiny alien and activating his bayard.

“No,” Allura said, quickly dismissing Keith's thoughts. “Alteans believe in peace first. Let's go welcome them.”

“That's adorable!” Hunk squeaked, already running to the entrance to meet his little friend.

“Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!” Lance suggested as he followed Hunk with nearly as much enthusiasm.

Keith watched as Hunk and Lance went along, Allura and Coran slowly following suit. He weighed down the options of going or staying. If he went, he might be caught up in a fight where he would be the only one on guard. If he stayed, he'd either have to be alone or with Shiro and Pidge, who were probably talking about depressing family stuff he'd rather not hear. 

He then weighed the possibilities of Lance and Hunk surviving an alien invasion, and quickly concluded that was highly unlikely. With Coran and Allura there, they might stand a chance, but the Alteans would need as much help as they could get if they were to fight with those two, so he guess he should follow them. No point staying in the castle if it was to be infiltrated, anyways.

“I'm not taking any chances!” He called from behind them, grabbing his bayard and running to them.

When Keith arrived to where the rest of his team was situated, and realised that the doors were already opened, and the creature was standing in the middle of it. It then (and very obviously) threw itself into the bushes and peered out at the strangers before it.

“Greetings,” Allura started awkwardly, approaching the bush as the others did too. “We know you're there. No harm will come to you.”

The thing then back-flipped out of the bush, taking on an immediate warrior stance and raising its sword, staring at the princess through its small, round eyes.

“Aw!” Hunk squeaked in adoration.

“Wait! He could be dangerous!” Keith exclaimed before the Princess could go any closer. He put an arm in front of the Princess, in between her and the creature, pushing her back a bit. He glared down at the thing with equal intensity. 

“Drop your weapon!” He shouted at it, raising his bayard.

“No one takes Klaizap’s weapon!” It renounced, raising its sword at Keith, not at all fazed.

“Keith, put that away,” Allura sighed exasperatedly, eyeing the two of them. “Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies.

“I am Klaizap,” the thing ignored, after Keith put his bayard down reluctantly, “bravest of our warriors. Our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers, as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers.”

“Followers?” Coran asked.

“Lion… _Goddess?_ ” Hunk blinked.

“The one the ancient spoke of,” Klaizap nodded. 

“What makes you think she's angered?” Allura asked, smiling gently and slowly catching on to what the tiny warrior was talking about.

“Destruction is everywhere,” Klaizap informed them, a darkened look crossing his face. “In the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky.”

“I think he's talking about Voltron,” Hunk whispered loudly to Lance, who rolled his eyes at his best friend.

“Yeah, I got that,” he said.

“You have not angered the Lion Goddess,” Allura reassured the small fighter, ignoring her Blue and Yellow paladin.

“How can you be certain?” Klaizap asked, confused.

“Because I am Allura, and this is my castle.” 

Klaizap blinked in confusion, staring between the Princess and the castle, and realisation soon dawned over him. His eyes widened as he beheld a small gasp, dropping to his knees and spreading his arms out in a ‘praying’ motion.

“Lion Goddess!” He gasped.

“Please, bravest warrior,” Allura addressed, “take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors.”

Keith crossed his eyebrows, turning to Allura in a slight frown.

“What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?” Keith said, much preferring a fight to the death than socialising with more of those weird, foreign aliens.

“Part of the paladins’ mission is to spread peace and diplomacy,” Allura replied reasonably. “Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks.”

Klaizap then took Allura by his small hand, and leaded her to his village, Coran right beside her. Lance and Hunk grinned at each other before skipping after them, no doubt extremely pleased to meet more cute aliens. Keith grumbled to himself, and after one last shout into his inner void, trudged on behind the group.

Upon their arrival, Klaizap immediately announced who the people he was with were. He had said something along the lines of: “I bring you the mighty, elegant Lion goddess and her trusty advisors, with her lowlife servants.” Lance had not appreciated the nickname (he was hoping for something like ‘Lion Prince’ or ‘her successful suitor’ or maybe just ‘her most handsome and finest warrior’).

The villagers immediately latched onto the newcomers with homemade treats and gifts to welcome the larger beings into their humble town. Laughter spread across the village as Coran picked one up one the locals and spun her around in his arms. Hunk received gifts from them with an overwhelming beam and small whispers of gratitude to his affectionate aliens. Lance watched, grinning politely as some younger creatures started to perform tricks for him, and he clapped adoringly when they had finished and moved onto the next one. Allura chatted to the large circle surrounding her (a lot of the villagers wanted a look at the Lion Goddess), and answered questions and provided positive information throughout, making everyone smile.

Keith, however, stood awkwardly near Lance and looked like a fish out of water. He looked around uncomfortably at the dancing villagers, and gripped his bayard in uncertainty. There was a chance this could still be a trap.

A few villagers nervously approached him, and when they made eye contact with him they smiled hopefully, but after receiving his cold glare they backed away again and didn't try to communicate with him since.

“Oh, Lion Goddess!” A low, demanding voice called, silencing the whole village.

Everyone's attention turned towards a larger, plumper Arusian, who was dressed in a faded green robes and wore a makeshift, wooden crown atop his head. He was a pale green, and his face sort of represented one of a fish. He spread his hands out before him.

“I, King of the Arusians, formally beg for your forgiveness,” he declared, clasping his hands together in a praying motion. “Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional _Dance of Apology_ as atonement for our wrongdoings.”

He clapped his hands and a young, female Arusian hurriedly ran to the front of them and took on a stance with determination.

“Commence _Dance of Apology_! Hoorah!”

As the Arusians cheered in response, some assembled to the tribal drums and flutes, and started playing an uptempo tune. The Arusian dancer then began her dance, which consisted of mostly small jumps and wriggling of her waist and fingers.

“Please, there's no need for this,” Allura informed as her and the paladins looked at one another guiltily.

“Moontow halt!” The King exclaimed, causing the poor dancing Arusian to freeze as she balanced on one foot. “The Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire.”

Just then, an Arusian chucked a flaming torch onto a stack of wooden planks and it suddenly erupted in fire, as some Arusians screamed in fear.

“We must throw ourselves in,” the King said solemnly.

“No! No sacrifices!” Allura yelled in panic before the first Arusian could jump.

“So, we may proceed with the dance?” The King asked, confused.

“That's a better alternative.”

The music resumed and Moontow continued her dance, with twirls and splits, and finally a drop to the knees in a praying position. As she did this, the rest of the villagers did the same, all turned towards Allura.

“Oh my,” she gasped quietly. “Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship. I accidentally put you all in danger. It is I who should be apologising to you.”

The Arusians looked up in confusion to stare at her, but still remained on the ground.

“I am Princess Allura and these are the Voltron Paladins!” She announced. “Although we originally came from different worlds…” she glance at the sacrificial fire that was still ablaze,” and have very, very, _very_ different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends.”

By now, the Arusians were all standing up, and the King was frowning at her in confusion,

“But the mighty robotic angel…” he murmured, “has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?”

“Voltron? No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you,” she denied, smiling. “Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!”

That brought a cheer out of the Arusians (who had been very quiet up until now). They ran up to the paladins and the Alteans and started to socialise and ask more questions than before, this time with more energy and enthusiasm.

As they continued to chat to one another, Keith smiled softly, slowly backing out into a less-crowded area. However, an Arusian had suddenly latched onto his torso, giving him a chubby, warm hug.

He chuckled nervously.

“I don't usually hug strangers, but uh…” he stuttered as the Arusian beamed, blinking its long lashes up at him. Keith placed a hesitant arm on its back and head, patting them and cuddling them back tensely. “Man, you are cuddly.”

“Thank you,” it replied in a low, raspy male voice.

Keith cringed.

As the team enjoyed themselves with the frolicking aliens, the universe had then decided that they had been enjoying themselves for _too_ long.

Allura was talking to a family of Arusians when she heard Shiro’s frantic voice speak hurriedly into her intercom.

“Team, come in! We need backup!” He yelled (and Allura could also somehow hear the sounds of Pidge struggling in the background). “Hello?”

“Shiro?” Allura asked, thoroughly confused as to why he was in such a rush and in a panic state.

“ _Where is everyone?_ ” 

“What's going on?” Keith asked, oblivious but curious at the same time.

You see, the paladin’s intercoms were all linked at their helmets, and since Lance, Hunk and Keith had left their helmets at the castle, their only sense of communication was from Allura, who's intercom was manufactured in her earrings.

Suddenly, the ground started to rumble, and the Arusians joyful chatter died to worried whimpers all round as they looked towards the sky. What looked it looked like from afar, was a big, metallic Galra pod shooting straight down towards them. And whatever it was, everyone knew it wouldn't be good. 

“Oh, no,” Keith muttered as his and Allura's eyes widened in horror. Somehow, he just _knew_ this would happen. “We gotta get to our lions!”

The Arusians scattered, each going to different places in panic.

“Everyone get inside and stay down!” Allura yelled over the top of the Arusians fear.

“I'm on it!” Hunk cried, running with his small friends as Allura raised an eyebrow.

Keith grabbed him by the collar before he could get far.

“Not you,” he growled as Hunk whined.

As the team ran back towards the castle (Allura and Coran were busy evacuating the village), they caught the glance of a massive explosion bursting in the distance, about the same place where Sendak’s ship crashed.

In the distance, everyone could see the Green and Black Lions getting thrashed around by something big and definitely not good. They ran harder to the castle, and somehow, the Lions were already waiting for them, as if they knew how much of a hurry they were in.

“Whoa,” Lance appalled, but none of them slowed their pace.

None of them knew their lions could do that, and Allura never told them either (they didn't even know if she knew that could happen). None of them had known their Lions could leave their chambers when one of their paladins were in need, which really saved them the pain in always trying to fetch them. 

What was more, was when they hopped into their Lions, their helmets and bayard was with them too, which was even more strange.

But they didn't have time to waste. They quickly put if their helmets and zoomed out to the designated area of the corruption. What they saw was horrifying.

It was a huge, dark purple and grey, steel monster, powered by some sort of glowing substance in tubes that connected to all of its parts. One eye was small and yellow, the other was round and white with a slit for its pupal. It's right hand seemed to be some sort of sceptre that spun round and round, harvesting a sparking and dangerous looking ball of dark matter in the middle of it. Once to its maximum size, the monster launched its ball at the Lions, and had it fling back to its sceptre-arm, like some sort of boomerang mechanism. 

They saw it run towards the Green Lion, who had just been shot down by its orb, and saw Shiro jump on its back protectively, trying to pry it apart with his Lion’s jaws. Before he could get anywhere vulnerable, the robot grabbed hold of the Lion and threw it into a nearby boulder. 

Immediately, Keith's anger erupted from within him and he started shooting at the monster.

“Lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!” He ordered Lance and Hunk.

“I'm on it!” Lance exclaimed with equal determination, and also miraculously not arguing with Keith.

He flew beside the Red Lion and they shot out a blast of blue at the monster who was only just coming to its senses of the other three.

“Check this out!” Hunk called out to his two buddies in the air. His Lion galloped towards the monster whose eyes were set on Lance and Keith and… “Battle-Lion head butt!”

The monster fell forwards from the impact of the Yellow Lion, and Keith used the time to check on Shiro and Pidge.

“You guys okay down there?” He asked, worriedly.

“Still alive for now,” Shiro reassured him. 

All the Lions then flew up to Keith getting in line and staring down at the terminator below, who was now all balanced and standing up. 

“Are the Galra behind this?” Hunk queried, but already knowing the answer.

“I think so,” Shiro told them, eyeing the tubes and fluorescent purple running through the monster.

“So, what's the plan? Shoot at it with everything we've got?” Lance asked, staring wearily down at the thing. “Take out its weapon? Call it names?”

Shiro mentally sighed. Count on Lance to bully even one of the scariest thing they all had ever seen.

“If we want to take this monster down, there's only one way to do it,” Shiro started before his catchphrase. “Form Voltron!” He yelled as his Lion roared with him.

The others didn't need to be told twice. The past few days, they became better and better at forming Voltron. Allura had insisted they all practice on it, and that practicing had all paid off. Because now, they could form Voltron quickly, and without even trying.

Voltron stood confidently in front of the Galra monster, but on the inside, all the paladins were overcome with tenseness. They haven't used Voltron for battle in a while, and they had little to no experience with Voltron in combat.

“Remember, we are one unit, fighting with one goal,” Shiro reminded everyone, sensing the tension between paladins.

If the monster was intimidated at all by Voltron, it didn't show it (it didn't have any facial features to show it, anyways) and instead it's right hand started to spin again, and the orb of pain formed.

Voltron took a step back, and then took off towards the former Destroyer, but not before it threw its orb at Voltron. Thankfully, Voltron dodged, and the Red Lion (right arm) reared back, and as Keith pushed down with all his might, punched the Destroyer.

Except, he didn't.

Voltron’s fist met the Destroyer’s fist easily, but before anyone it could react, Pidge reared his lion back and hit the Destroyer with a forceful uppercut. This caused the Destroyer to be pushed back hard, and as it was trying to rebalance itself, Voltron used the time to jump up in the air, and plummet the Destroyer into the ground. The Destroyer raised an arm to stop them, and as the battle of the strengths began, the Destroyer called back for its orb whilst Voltron was focusing on this. As the orb zoomed towards them, the Destroyer jumped back, and this time, Voltron wasn't so lucky. 

The orb hit them right in the back, and just like that, the tables were turned. Voltron was shoved into the ground instead, and as they were trying their best to get up, the orb went right up, and down again. This time, Lance and Pidge had seen this, so they turned their blasters on to get out of the way. They did that, but Voltron was flying in an mortifyingly awkward position. The others fought on and had switched their blasters on too, but just in time to dodge the orb again. It was hard, controlling one-fifth of the whole thing. Not to mention: _confusing_.

“I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!” Keith yelled above the chaos, pushing back and away from the Destroyer and its orb.

“Yeah, so how is this monster kicking our butts?” Hunk asked, panicky.

Voltron stood back up and turned around to keep its eyes on the flying orb, but by doing so, disregarded the Destroyer creeping up behind them. The Destroyer then rammed instead into Voltron’s side, sending it flying. When they soaked in their surroundings, they saw the village. The scary thing was that it was not too far away, though it did look quite empty. Thank god everyone had escaped.

“Oh, no! The village! We have to protect those people’s homes!” Shiro fretted, even though he had never visited it. It didn't take a worldwide genius to know that the citizens of Arus weren't too far.

Before they could devise a plan to lead the Destroyer away, the orb struck at Voltron again, pushing them forwards and right onto the village. Thankfully for Lance, Hunk and Keith, they reacted quickly and activated their blasters before they could crush the small town.

“That was close!” Shiro exclaimed, as Voltron then took off and started to fly in the opposite direction.

The Destroyer followed suit, chasing after them with no hesitation. 

“We got it away from the Arusians, but we can't take it down!” Pidge yelled through his intercom to the others.

“I got it!” Lance answered with childish excitement, almost immediately. “I'm going to power-kick that orb thing!”

“No!” Keith objected, horrified. “The last time you did a kick, we fell!”

“Stop living in the past!” Lance huffed indignantly.

With that, Voltron turned and ran at the Destroyer. In return, the Destroyer released the orb at its opponent, but Voltron dodged it as the orb came back to its master. It then jumped up into the air, and the Blue Lion thrust itself out in a drop kick position. Lance yelled in determination as the Lion came speeding towards the monster’s arm, that was harbouring the orb. He was sure it was going to work… 100% certain… it had to…

Suddenly, the orb sped right at Voltron.

“Oh no,” Lance cringed quickly as the orb hit Voltron square in the face, and sent it sprawling off course.

As Voltron regained its stance with the monster not too far away, Shiro ordered, “Pidge, fire lasers now!”

“Got it! Fire!” Pidge yelled as the Green Lion was pointed at the monster.

But instead, the shield was activated.

“Oops!” Pidge exclaimed, getting his dash up and trying hurriedly to deactivate the shield while simultaneously trying to fire his lasers.

But the monster was so big, scary and powerful and it was right in front of them and Pidge had a mental blank. There wasn't enough time and he thought he was going to pee himself in fear.

This hesitation and mental stress brought the Destroyer to punch the Lion off course, and shoot the orb into the Legendary Defender’s chest, pushing it back forcefully.

This would not do. They had to have some sort of plan. They couldn't let this Galra alteration of a being defeat them so quickly. They had the most powerful weapon in the universe! There was no way a quick, constructed experiment made to buy time for the Galra was going to beat them. Right?

“Every time we're focused on that orb, we're blindsided by the monster, and every time we focus on the monster, the orb hits us!” Hunk said, addressing the problem to his comrades (even though the paladins could already know what he was thinking). 

“Then what do we do?” Lance snapped, clearly stressed.

“Orb!” Hunk warned, as Voltron instinctively blocked with its unprotected arms up to deflect it, which still impacted them the same way and damaged the huge robot all over. Voltron now lay still on the ground, incredibly enfeebled compared to before.

“Shiro, we gotta move!” Keith panicked as Voltron lay on the ground. Shiro would know what to do… Shiro always knows what to do… 

But no answer.

“Shiro, are you there?” Keith asked, trying to connect with his thoughts, but knowing he was too stressed and panicked to do so. “Shiro? _Shiro!_ ”

Shiro knew the beast in front of him. He knew the sound of that electrifying orb, those evil eyes, the fighting style… he knew it all. A memory of a smaller monster, but more alive and still deadly. It was an arena fight. Aliens were cheering all around him. His life was in the line.

He had no idea why he was remembering only now, but taking a good look at the thing, he knew it.

_That day, we were sent to fight Myzax, a vile beast many thought could never be defeated._

“That sound…” he started, “I remember this monster from my time in Zarkon’s prison. I know how to beat him!”

Keith grinned with relief as the other paladins held their breath.

And as the monster came running at them again, Voltron dodged its punch, diving out of the way before any harm could be inflicted.

“Listen,” Shiro ordered, “there's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, that orb needs to charge up.”

Indeed, the orb returned to its user’s spinning hand, and the monster stood there as the orb grew darker and sparked with more power.

“That's this monster’s weakest point. That's when we strike!” 

“Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?” Hunk asked, quickly.

“Defence!” Shiro yelled as the monster's orb was done charging, and was now flying directly at Voltron at a quick pace. “Pidge, we need that shield!”

Pidge obliged, standing the shield up as the orb crashed with it, and bounced back.

Everything was such déjà vu to Shiro, the monster's swings, their moves, it was just like the battle between them.

“That's one,” Shiro called. “Two more to go!”

The orb came flying back at them as the monster approached, so Voltron moved back too. The orb collided with the shield again, this time more forcefully. 

“We can't take much more!” Hunk grunted as the orb came back for the third time.

Shiro remembered his beaten, dirty figure in that wretched place. How tired and broken he was. But if he defeated Myzax once, he could do it again. He knew that. So he braced himself again. 

When the orb hit the third time, the damage was too much for Voltron’s shield, and it shattered it. The orb then floated back to the monster, and time stopped. Shiro's eyes widened as everyone held their breaths. The time was… 

“Now!” Shiro barked.

Quicker than lightning, Keith pulled his lever and slammed on a large button, bringing Voltron to point its red arm at the monster, and shoot a long, powerful blue blast of electricity right into its chest. The monster staggered back, but the blast kept on its target, and soon, the monster had collapsed on the ground.

There was a moment of silence where the paladins prayed as the dust settled around the fallen creature.

But then it stirred. It moved. And it got back up again, not too fazed by the recent attack.

“It didn't work!” Pidge exclaimed, his voice more high-pitched than usual.

“So, now what?” Lance asked, frustrated.

The orb hit them again and Voltron staggered backwards, but Shiro knew this wouldn't be the end. It was stronger than just that. He closed his eyes and focused on his memory, and he remembered he had a weapon of defence with him. Something to make him stand a chance. He opened his eyes again.

“When I attacked him before, I had a sword!” He told them. 

“Orb! Orb!” Hunk yelled, his voice breaking and no doubt, tears forming.

The orb hit them again in the chest, and since they had no shield to defeat them, the orb was slowly shutting down every lion. It was excruciating to everyone.

“We can't take another shot like that!” Pidge announced, not needing to look at their stats to concludethat.

Keith groaned, but before he can ask Shiro for any instructions his lion growled deeply to him. The whole interior lit up and suddenly, Keith's pain numbed as he focused on what his lion was trying to communicate with him. Then, a metal attachment emerged from the desktop beside him. A dark, circle was in the middle, located with two spots, like a sort of keyhole to unlock something. Something dire to the mission. 

“Wait a second, guys!” Keith told them, staring at the odd thing that had appeared. “I think my lion’s telling me what to do.”

“Whatever it is, hurry up and do it!” Lance yelled at him, not caring at the others hesitation towards the thing. “He's about to fire his third shot!”

Soon enough, when they focused on the monster, the orb was flying right at Voltron’s head. Voltron tried to dodge, but it was too fast and Voltron had been weakened immensely. The orb hit it with such force that basically sent Voltron flying backwards, tumbling across the desert landscape and destroying natural landforms in the process. It finally halted to a stop, and as the whole robot started to crackle with barely any reserved energy, the monster came stampeding towards them. It jumped up and raised its arm, which had the orb in it, charging. It was about to finish Voltron.

Panicked, Keith turned his gaze back to the mysterious activator, which was now beeping with urgency. His lion was trying to talk to him, but he was stressed and panicked, and the other paladins screaming didn't help him concentrate. He looked around for anything. His lion was shutting down, the buttons and levers malfunctioning. His armour wasn't much help, considering the monster could still crush him easily, and he was inside his lion and not knowing if he could get out as Voltron, let alone escape. 

Then he looked at his bayard.

He picked it up, examining it for not that long, and looked back at the beeping activator. And as his lion hummed with satisfaction, he knew exactly what to do.

As he summoned all of his power (combined with his Lion’s), he slammed his bayard into the holes of the activator, twisting it and suddenly, he felt power surge threw Voltron again.

Voltron brought its arms together, took stance, and summoned a bright, powerful, strong sword from the Green and Red Lions. He brought it up to the monster and side-stepped, but not before slicing that hideous creature in half.

The monster fell to its knees, the purple energy that was once pumping through its veins, powering it, was now bursting around it in malice. Not too long after, a huge explosion erupted, setting everything the monster was ablaze.

Voltron swung its sword around with ease and expertise as the others let out cries of relief and victory from within.

“How did you do that?” Hunk asked incredulously to Keith, his tone one of praise.

If Keith was going to answer the question honestly, the answer would be: _he had no clue what he was doing._

So instead of answering, Keith turned to look at his bayard, which was still locked in to the sword activator. He pulled it out with an exhale.

“Whoa,” he marvelled, staring at the bayard with wonder. He knew it was a weapon and all, but he didn't know it was _that_ important. He let out a soft chuckle not long after. “Thanks, Red.”

Without the lion’s instructing, they would all be dead by now. He hoped that they all proved something. That they proved they were strong. That they won't be destroyed so easily. If you mess with the order of the universe, you're going to have to mess with the protector of it. There was no stopping them now. Their message was clear and simple. 

They all knew they were being watched from the other side.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

 

“Good luck out there,” Lance bid good-heartedly as the alien bowed in return.

They were now in the chambers where they stored their Altean pods and smaller ships. The former prisoners of Zarkon had all boarded one of the pods, keying in destinations to their home planets or another safe place. It was time to leave.

“Thank you all for everything,” the alien (the one who talked to Pidge and Shiro in the infirmary) said, his voice cracking with sincere gratitude. “We never dreamed we'd see our families again. But you gave us hope. You gave the universe hope.”

They all smiled and thanked them for the support, and as the aliens flew away safely, Pidge felt his smile fade. He walked out of the room, deciding he needed some fresh air. Now that the prisoners were now officially rescued, the village was safe and at peace and the Galra monster was defeated, his negative thoughts and overwhelming feelings were submerging him again in a sea of doubt and hopelessness. He was torn between Voltron and his family. The alien’s kind comments weren't making his decision any easier either. 

He sat outside the castle as the sun dipped down into the horizon, signalling that night was about to come, and who knows how cold it will be. He knew he should go inside soon, but he decided to stay out a little longer. The Altean mice had accompanied him here, and at least they were friendly company.

“Pidge, there you are,” a voice called from behind him.

He looked up to see Shiro strolling towards him with a relaxed smile on his face, and the first thing he could think of was when he injured his brother for bloodlust. It was weird, horrifying and downright dirty, but he wasn't quite sure he could believe it either. That didn't sound like Shiro. Shiro was encouraging and kind. He couldn't of done that despite what the aliens had remembered.

But then he remembered what happened before that Galra monster crash-landed on Arus. He and Shiro were in Sendak’s ruined ship, and he was downloading information on its prisoners off its database. Pidge was so sure he'd find where he and his dad were moved to, and after months of searching, he was so excited and _ready_ to get some solid information on this quest. 

But then Shiro had spotted the pod of the monster, that was flying at the ship at an alarming rate. Despite Pidge’s resisting, Shiro picked Pidge up and ran out of the ship before the pod crashed into it and blew up everything the ship was to ashes. Before Pidge and Shiro could be swallowed up in the flames. And before Pidge could get the information needed to track down his brother and father.

He was extremely annoyed at that. They had been so close. _So close_. But deep down, he knew if it weren't for Shiro, he'd be gone with the rest of the ship. And that annoyed him even more.

All these conflicting emotions made him have a migraine.

“Why would you hurt my brother?” Pidge finally asked, staring up at Shiro forlornly. “You were friends.” 

He wasn't expecting Shiro's next words.

“I did it to save him.”

“What?”

Shiro let out a long breath Pidge hadn't known he was holding in, and he sat down beside Pidge, staring out to the horizon.

“My memory of the event came back when we were fighting that monster,” Shiro explained, getting lost in time. “Your dad was being sent off with the weaker prisoners to a work camp. Meanwhile, Matt and I were forced to fight in the gladiator arena. Matt was going to fight first, but he was scared. We all were.”

Shiro remembered him and all the younger prisoners being lined up while the Galran commentator shouted outside, and a monstrous roar rung out, along with cheers for gore. He remembered Matt in rags of purple (standard Galra prisoner attire), and his unkempt, mouse brown hair. He looked down at his beaten figure that had been tossed around and slaved for the past weeks, and knew what he was fighting wasn't going to be any easy task.

Shiro saw his eyes dilate with fear and his whole body shake, which broke Shiro's heart.

“I'm not going to make it,” Shiro heard Matt whimper to himself, his voice as frail as his physical appearance. “I'm never going to see my family again.”

“You can do this,” Shiro encouraged, trying to take Matt’s mind off the negativity.

But as the doors opened and a Galran soldier came in, pointing their sword at Matt, and indicating him to go up there, alone, into the arena of death, and fight that hardly defeatable monster, Shiro made up his mind. Matt was too young and innocent for this. Shiro couldn't stand to see him get hurt at all, so he did the first thing that came to his mind. 

He let out a strangled cry that he hoped sounded more angrier. He roughly pushed Matt to the side, which surprised him and everyone. He ran up to the Galran soldier who was still in shock, and took his hands on the weapon. He turned back to the prisoners and tried to muster a confident, vengeful face.

“This is my fight!” He yelled at all of them, and knowing it was fir the best, but also knowing this would probably be something he regretted, he slashed his weapon along Matt’s left leg, and blood started to pour at an alarming rate.

His heart hurt as he did it, but he knew this was good enough to land Matt in the infirmary for a bit and make him miss out on more slaving, and he also knew that that would get him out of this. 

Matt fell to the floor, crying out in pain and clutching his injured leg. 

“I want blood!” Shiro howled, throwing his weapon aside and pouncing onto Matt threateningly.

From an outsider’s point of view, it might've looked that Shiro had gone crazy for a fight, and was spewing threats and taunts at the smaller boy he was on top of, but in reality it was quite the opposite.

He and Matt were face-to-face, their noses nearly touching, and Shiro's dark eyes softened immediately. 

“Take care of your father,” he whispered to him as the Galras dragged him out, and onto the arena. He saw Matt’s confused and shocked face as the the doors closed behind him,

And that was the last time Shiro saw him.

Now, he was pulled back to the present, and Pidge was staring up at Shiro with disbelief in his hazel eyes.

“You saved him?” Pidge asked, his voice full of emotion and his eyes starting to swell up. He knew his brother. He wouldn't of stood a chance against the thing they just fought. “You attacked him so they would choose you instead.”

Before Pidge could properly burst into tears, he was overcome with thankfulness for the man sitting next to him. He suddenly latched onto him, wrapping his arms around the surprised guy and letting his tears fall.

“I'm so sorry I doubted you!” He gasped. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

He felt Shiro’s tense body ease up, as he felt tentative arms snake around him too.

“I can tell you really miss them,” Shiro said softly. “I know that they miss you, too. Your brother and father would be proud of you, _Katie_.”

He felt Pidge gasp from underneath him. He, no, _she_ looked up at him, her eyes going wide with disbelief. She should've figured he'd known about how Sam Holt never had two sons, or that Matt never had a brother, but a _sister_. Still, she'd be keeping her identity secret for so long, she wasn't sure if she was ready to reveal herself in such a sticky part of her life.

Shiro thankfully cut her off before she could go through the pain of responding.

“Don't worry,” he smiled, looking down at her, “your secret’s safe with me.”

And she knew it was.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge has been outed! Man, I was just getting used to using male terms on her, but I'm relieved I can use her proper pronouns.
> 
> I also incorporated the part where Keith was weighing the options of an enemy infiltration when it came down to Klaizap outside the castle. I did it because I don't think he's one to willingly go and socialise with strangers carrying weapons (especially at the start of VLD). I also wanted a kind of foreshadowing thing too?? I don't know…
> 
> I also changed Shiro's line where he says: [referring to altered Myzax] “I've never seen anything like it.” I did that because he has seen him before, and it wouldn't make sense if his memory didn't spark at all upon looking at him. Also the fact that he and Pidge were battling it before Lance, Hunk and Keith. So he had plenty of time to observe it. So I cut that quote down a bit.
> 
> AND VOLTRON S8 COMES OUT IN A FEW HOURS AND ITS THE LAST SEASON AND I WANNA CRY AND IM TERRIFIED BUT HERE I AM GOING THROUGH THIS PAIN AND AGGHHHHHHHH
> 
> Now I'm having a mental breakdown, so I guess I'll just stop it here and thank you for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Hopefully I won't die from this season and you'll hear from me soon,  
> Yanna ❤️


End file.
